Princess McGee ?
by chelsea1234
Summary: This is the fourth story in my series about the McGee family. In this story Tim and Abby adopt a six year old girl named Jess. McAbby, Tiva and the rest of the gang There will be discipline spankings in some chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Ok, This is a pretty short chapter just to introduce you to what's going to happen next. While I realise that getting an adoption to go through so quickly, wouldn't happen in the real world. This is not the real is fiction and it suited my purposes ;) So I apologise if it's not realistic enough. Hopefully you'll forget about that if you get into the story. Please review and let me know what you think :)

The next thing is that like my other stories, this story at some stages will contain discipline spankings. You have been warned.

Chapter1

It was about a month after the new school year had started and there had been no major problems to speak of in the McGee household. Sarah was still dating Zac, who continued to be a great influence on her. Although, a lot of the changes in Sarah had come from herself. She had grown up alot. She wasn't perfect and still got into trouble occasionally but not to the extent that she used to.

Dylan had settled into school nicely and he and Toby were still best friends although other friends had been in included in the mix as well. They often played out in the street on weekends. Toby often slept over or Dylan would sleep at Toby's house. Rex and Lulu were happy and loved everyone. Life at the McGee's was still fun, but definitely calmer. The NCIS family had taken to coming to Tim and Abby's every Sunday that they were'nt working now. The interaction with their extended family helped keep the family strong. Tony as usual loved his weekly visits.

When they were sitting down to dinner one night, Abby and Tim decided to broach a subject they had been considering for some time. Tim spoke first. "We have decided, if it's ok with you two, that we would like to look at adopting another child. Probably a little girl. What do you think?" Abby watched Sarah and Dylan's faces, trying to read what they were thinking, not what they were saying.

"Wow!!" Sarah said. "It'd be really cool to have a little girl around here."

"How old would she be?" Dylan asked.

"We don't know Dyl, we have to see what children are available. Who needs a home the most."

"Did you wanna get a baby?" he said.

"No. That is we don't know. Probably a bit older than a baby." Tim said. "Why?"

Dylan shrugged.

"Don't you want us to get another child? Because it won't make any difference to how we feel about you." Abby said.

"It's not that." Dylan said quietly.

"Well what is it then?"

"I was just thinking of something."

"Spill it Dyl, something's obviously on your mind." Sarah said.

"I know someone, or I did who needs a home."

"Who?" three surprised voices said at the same time.

"It was a girl at the home. Her name is Jess. Nobody ever wanted her."

Tim and Abby looked at each other. "Why not?"

"Cause she was bad. Whenever she got fostered, she always got brought back cause she was too naughty."

Tears sprang immediately to Abby's eyes. "How can you just return a child like an unwanted gift?"

Dylan shrugged. "Happens all the time."

Tim took Abby's hand. "How old is she Dyl?"

"Six."

Sarah eyes like Abby's were full of tears that threatened to escape.

"What.........what type of bad things did she do?" Abby asked still trying to get her head around the fact that someone could treat a child this way.

"She throws tantrums a lot. She steals peoples stuff. She bites people. She hits and kicks."

"Why do you think she acts like that Dyl?" Sarah asked.

"I don't know." Dylan said shrugging. "One lady told her she was crazy. I don't think she is. She just doesn't trust people."

"Why do you think that is?"

"Why would she? Nobody ever wanted her."

Abby looked at Tim and they were both in silent agreement, if she was still there, THEY wanted her. The problem would be getting through the red tape quickly. "Why don't you two go and get started on your home work." Tim said, wanting to get Abby alone.

When the kids were well out of earshot, Abby turned to Tim. "I want her Tim. I want Jess."

"Ok I know how you feel. I feel like driving over there and kidnapping her myself but we have to do it the right way. I'm gonna call Gibbs see what he thinks. Why don't you give the agency a call and see if she's available for adoption and see what else you can find out about her?"

"Good idea." They both went off to make their respective phone calls and then met back in the living room about twenty minutes later.

"What did Gibbs think?" Abby said anxiously.

"He told me to call Vance." Tim said. "I did, and he said he knew someone that owed him a few favours and that he'd get back to me. How'd you get on?"

"Well apparently Dylan was pretty spot on. She goes home with prospective parents and usually gets returned a few days later. She's a handful. Jess has a lot of emotional issues. She hasn't been abused physically or sexually, but she was severely neglected. Oh Timmy, I can feel it in my gut that we're the right family for her. She just needs a lot of love and some structure and discipline and eventually I know she can be alright."

"I feel the same way Abby, but this isn't just a doll we're choosing off the shelf. We have to be really sure about this. We have to be prepared to take this little girl no matter what. We can't take her like we did Dylan for visits and such. She's been hurt too much. We'll need to show her that we're willing to take her no matter what. That means the kids have to agree too because this could really disrupt all of our lives. Jess can't get her hopes up that she has a family only to be shunted back to foster care again."

They decided to go up and talk to the kids again. They went to Sarah's room first. "How would you feel about us taking on Jess?" Abby said. Sarah looked at them with tears again springing to her eyes.

"I was hoping you'd want to take her. It makes me feel sick to think of a child that lonely and hurt, thinking that no one wants her. When can we go get her?"

"Hold your horses Sar. There are legalities. But we're already looking into it." Tim said.

Next they went to Dylan's room. "Hey Dyl." Abby said pulling him into a hug. "Dad and I were talking and we were thinking......"

"What your Mom is trying to say Dyl, is that we would like to maybe offer to adopt Jess. What would you think about that?"

"Jess's cool, when you get to know her. Anyway, it was my idea wasn't it?" he said grinning.

Abby and Tim were walking down the stairs when Tim's cell phone rang. "McGee!" he answered. Abby clung onto him anxiously.

"Yes Director......yes.......I'll email you that now.................Thankyou. Thankyou so much."

"His contact said that because Jess has been so hard to place and because we have already adopted and have already met the criteria we should be able to fast track the adoption by the end of the week." Abby clapped her hands and jumped up and down almost falling down the stairs. Tim grabbed her and lifted her up off the ground. "We did it! Let's go and tell the kids."

In the middle of the night Tim woke to find the other side of the bed empty. He got up and went in search of Abby. It didn't take him long to find was in the guest room, well what would be Jess's room. Two o'clock in the morning and she was on a ladder measuring the window for drapes. "Abbyyy." Tim said. It's the middle of the night. What are you doing?"

"I'm measuring the windows Timmy. There's not a minute to lose." Abby said. "I'm not exactly sure whether to go with drapes or blinds or maybe just shutters. I don't even know what her favourite colour is. Do you think at six she'd be a girly girl or would she still like the younger sort of stuff. Not every girl likes pink you know Timmy. I hated pink........."Abby trailed off as she found her self carted off to bed over Tim's shoulder.

"Hey! Timmy!"

"Tomorrow Abby!" he said. Here we go again he thought with a smile.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Thankyou everyone for your reviews and alerts and your interest in this new story. I always appreciate it when people take the time to review :)

Chapter 2

The next day Tim and Abby were going in to work late. After dropping the kids at school, they were going to meet Jess,spend a little time with her and get some of the paper work signed. After that, hopefully it would only take a few days. It was a done deal really. It was just a matter of dotting the I's and crossing the T' needed the couple of days it would take for the red tape, to prepare for Jess's arrival. Abby had her heart set on having everything just right.

As they walked back into the home where they had picked up Dylan not that many months ago, Abby was very jittery. Lack of sleep, excitement and nervousness all combined to make her want to jump out of her skin. Tim was feeling the same but his calm demeanour didn't show the complicated feelings that were jumping around inside. He looked at Abby and smiled, taking her hand as they entered the building. They didn't have to wait long before they they were ushered through to the office.

Mr and Mrs McGee the woman said with a soft voice and watery eyes, I can't tell you what this means to us here that you're willing to do this for Jess. But, I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't warn you that Jess is not going to be as easy to assimilate as Dylan was. She can be ........difficult."

Abby cut her off. "She can be naughty, really naughty we get that. Dylan has told us about some of her behaviours. We don't care." Looking at Tim she smiled. "We want her no matter what she's like. If I were to give birth to a child of my own that had problems, I wouldn't send it back. I would love it and I would find a solution to the problem. We wouldn't get a chance to try it out and see if it fits. You get what you're given and I know that we're being given Jess. I can feel it." She looked over at Tim again and he was beaming with pride.

"Could we just sign the papers so we can meet our daughter?" he said.

"It would be my pleasure!" the woman said pushing the papers towards Tim. Tim signed them and passed them on to Abby who did the same. The woman ended the call she had been on while they signed the papers. They turned around at the sound of a door opening.

An older woman entered holding the hand of the most beautiful little girl that Tim and Abby had ever seen. She had long blonde wavy hair and big blue her expression was one of indifference and her eyes were averted. Abby noticed that she clung to a toy monkey, its tail reaching almost to the ground.

"Well hello there." Abby said gently. "That's a beautiful monkey you have there. What's his name?"

"Peanuts." Jess said.

"That's a very cool name for a monkey." Tim said "And a little birdie told me your name is Jess." She nodded.

"You have beautiful hair." Abby said. "Do you know who we are Jess?"

"No."

"Well, do you remember Dylan?"Abby said.

"Yeh, he got adopted and went away."

"That's right. And we are the people that adopted him. Now we're his Mom and Dad." Tim said. "Do you see these papers?"

Jess nodded again.

"These papers say that we want to be your Mommy and Daddy too."Tim explained.

Jess looked up at their faces for the first time and then looked down again.

"Sweetie do you understand?" Abby urged.

"In a couple of days, we're going to come and take you to our house and that will be your house then too and Dylan will be your brother. You'll have your own room, your own toys and an Auntie that lives with us too." Tim said softly.

Jess said nothing.

"Do you think you'd like that?" Abby said.

"Don't matter." Jess said. "You'll just bring me back here when I'm bad."

"No. Jess look at me." Tim said. "You're going to be our little girl and no matter what we won't ever bring you back here unless you want to visit."

"Ok."she said still looking doubtful.

"You know what Jess? I need to know what your favourite colour is." Abby said. "Because I need to fix up your room and I want you to love it. If there was anything in the world that you could have to make your room just right, what do you think it would be?"

"A princess bed." She said in a voice that was barely audible.

"Well! A princess bed!" That could be arranged. "Anything else?" Tim asked enthusiastically, wondering what the hell a princess bed was.

"I like pink."

"Well good." Abby said. "Now we're getting somewhere. What kind of dolls do you like? Do you like dolls or animals. Do you like stuffed animals?"

"I'd like to have a Barbie. I never had one."

"You can have as many Barbie's as you like!" Abby said enthusiastically. Tim looked at her but dared not say anything for fear of scaring Jess who at least now was talking to them. Oh hell. What did it matter anyway if they bought her a room full of Barbie dolls. This little angel could do with some spoiling.

All too soon, it was time for Tim and Abby to leave. The lady appeared from nowhere again and went to take Jess hand. She looked sadly at Abby as she was being pulled away."Wait!" Abby said. She ran over and hugged Jess. "I'm going to come back here tomorrow to visit and give you a present and then it'll only be a couple of days. We need that time to make you a perfect room. Ok?" Jess nodded

Tim came over and lifted her up off the ground and she wound her arms around his neck. As he put her back down his eyes were full of tears. He hated to leave her here. "We'll see you tomorrow. OK?" and she disappeared through the door.

"Do you have a photo and maybe some information about her size and shoe size and stuff?" Abby asked.

"Yes I've already written it all down."

"We'll see you tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have some news then."

They said thankyou and headed off to NCIS. They couldn't wait to share their news.

As the elevator doors opened all eyes were on Abby and Tim. "Well?" Gibbs said.

"We signed some of the papers this morning and we should be able to pick her up in a couple of days." Tim said as Abby bounced around excitedly next to him.

They were surrounded by hugs and congratulations from their excited family. Gibbs had already shared with Ducky and Jimmy and Tony and Ziva had known since they had rung to tell them the news last night.

"Do you have a picture?" Ziva asked.

Producing one immediately with pride, Abby's eyes filled up yet again at the sight of the little angel in the photo. "Ok! We need a favour. A working bee at our house tonight. The guest room needs to be turned into a bedroom for Jess before we pick her up and bring her home. Any takers?"

Of course everyone agreed to come and help. "And we need a princess bed. What IS a princess bed?" Tim asked.

Abby and Ziva laughed. "I'll get the bed Timmy. You're gonna have to let me have your credit card though so that I can get all the stuff that we need. Luckily the walls are white in there so we shouldn't have to paint. We can just get a lot of accessories and stuff to make it look all girly. I'll need to get her some new clothes and toys, all though I won't get too many clothes because it might be better if she got to choose some of them herself. What about school Timmy?Do we need to enrol her in school? All though maybe she should just stay here with us for a little while until she's settled do you think?" she said

"About which thing Abs?" he said with a smile.

"The school thing."

"I'm not sure. I think by law she'll have to go to school. She's six."

"So when do we get to meet her?" Tony asked staring at the photo.

"As soon as we bring her home." Tim said. "We'd like to have you all waiting for us the same as when we brought Dylan home."

"Well, I have to say McDaddy, she looks like an angel. Little McAngel." Tony said with a grin. "I wonder how long it'll take this one before the shenanigans begin."

"Tony!" Ziva said. "She's just a baby!"

"We'll see!" he said.

At lunch time, Abby and Ziva went shopping and ordered the bed to be delivered late that day. They also chose linens and toys and a big screen TV the same as Dylan's, A DVD player and quite a few DVDs. All sorts of toys and clothes and anything else they could think of that a little girl would like. Abby also chose about ten different Barbie dolls with clothes and accessories to match. Although Abby was disgusted that there were no scull and cross bone T shirts or Goth gear in general for Barbie dolls. She made a mental note to send an email of was discrimination.

After work the whole gang met at Abby and Tim's house and with every body's help, including Sarah and Dylan's, they were able to pull together a very pretty room complete with Barbie dolls and a princess bed. Finally as Abby hung up the last of the clothes and smoothed down the fresh linens on the bed, she was satisfied. Tim cringed when he thought about the amount of money she had spent but decided to turn a blind eye just this once, because it was important that Jess had a room that was fit for a Princess. There little princess.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Thankyou all so much for your wonderful review and alerts. They made my day. I love to hear what you're all thinking. :)

Chapter 3

Then next day, Abby and Tim had gone to visit Jess again and taken her a Disney Princess Barbie and a new outfit to wear when they took her home. She absolutely loved it, and had kept it clutched to her ever since.

When the McGee's went to collect her on Saturday morning, they found her waiting with the same older woman, wearing her new jeans and Barbie t-shirt, her blond hair cascading down her back in soft waves. She was carrying her new doll and peanuts the monkey. A small backpack was next to her that held all the rest of her stuff. She looked scared. Although they hoped that this change would be a positive one for her, it WASanother change. They hoped that this tiny little thing would be able to cope with yet another upheaval.

Jess eyes carefully followed each of them as they entered the building. First Tim, then Abby, she was happy to see them she thought, they seemed nice. She stared a little at Sarah who was new to her but her face lit up when it finally came to settle on Dylan. A familiar face."Dyl!" she said throwing her arms around him. Dylan looked at Tim startled, but let her hug him anyway. But after a minute he looked pleadingly at Tim who lifted Jess's arms from around Dyl's neck and picked her up.

Winking at Dylan Tim said. "Come on Dyl, share, you can't have her all to yourself." She giggled when he tickled her. Abby let out the breath she'd been holding.

"Hey there Jess, we're really excited that you're coming home with us today." Abby saidrunning her hand up and down her arm. Jess smiled but clung on to Tim.

"There's someone here you haven't met yet." Sarah stepped close to her and stroked her long hair. "This is Sarah. She's your Auntie and she lives with us too."

"Hi Jess!" Sarah said. "I'm really happy to meet you."

"Hi."Jess said shyly.

"Sarah, we have to just sign the last of the papers. Do you think you'll be ok here with Jess and Dyl?"

"Course I will. We'll be fine. Won't we guys?"

Tim tried to put Jess down but she clung to his shirt. He stood back up again and cuddled her tighter. "Daddy just has to go in this room for a very short while and then I'll be straight back. OK?"

She nodded and Tim passed her down to Sarah who was sitting in a chair bracing herself. Sarah and Abby exchanged wry glances.

As they entered the room, Abby looked at Tim with a mischievous sparkle in her eye. "Someone's won a heart!" Tim blushed. "Where's your set of rules and structure this time Timmy?" she giggled, shaking her head. In her best Tim impersonator voice she said "Children need to know the rules. They need structure. They need discipline."

"Very funny Abby! We'll get to that, she........it's just......well this has happened very fast and we're all going to need time to adjust." He said defensively.  
"Yeh right! You're smitten Timmy. You can't fool me."

"Knock it off." He said as the director woman entered the room. Abby was beaming. She'd never admit it to him, but she LOVED this side of Timmy.

Outside the room Sarah sat with Jess on her lap. Dylan was playing with his DS seemingly oblivious to anything new. So Sarah thought she'd make conversation. "That's a beautiful Barbie you have there." Jess nodded. "I used to love to do my Barbie's hair." She said reaching out to touch the dolls hair. Jess's head swung around.

"DON'T TOUCH IT! IT'S MINE!" she hissed angrily. Sarah put her hands up. "Sorry Jess, I didn't mean it. I was just.....I know it's your's I....." Jess's glare stopped her in her tracks. "OK then."Sarah said felling a bit hurt.

A few minutes later the door opened and Tim and Abby came back out. Papers are all signed, Abby said. We can go home. Jess jumped up and wrapped her arms around Tim's legs. He immediately picked her up and she wound her arms around his neck and buried her face. Abby shook her head and reached into Tim's pocket for the car keys, she said to Tim waggling her eyebrows. "I guess I'll be driving. Come on kids." She said to the other two.

Sarah moved up beside Abby. "If you're driving, can I sit up front? I don't think she likes me."

Abby looked at her and then pulled her into a one armed hug as they walked. "Don't let it get to you Hun, it's not that she doesn't want us. I suspect this is the first time that she's had her very own Daddy."

"Well I hope for your sake she isn't as possessive with him as she that doll!"

"Not jealous Hun are you?"

"No! Certainly not of Tim. I love my brother but it'll be kind of nice to have someone else to distract him from what I'm doing all the time. No, I was really looking forward to picking her up today and she doesn't even like me."

"She will Hun. You've gotta give her some time. You'll be painting toenails and playing Barbie's with her before you know. You have to remember Sarah, we didn't do this for us. It's about her and what SHE needs. Today it's Tim. Who knows what will happen tomorrow."

"You ok Dyl?" Abby asked kissing his head.

"Yeh fine." he said not lifting his head up from his game. Abby smiled. How does he do that? Walk around seemingly not looking at anything around him while he plays that game and doesn't miss a beat? Never falls over or bumps in to things. Very clever really. They all piled into the car, Jess in the middle in the back smiling with her Barbie and her Peanuts, with her Daddy on one side and her brother on the other. She looked happy.

When they arrived at the house, they filed out of the car and were greeted by their very excited NCIS family. Gibbs pulled Dylan into a big hug wanting to make sure that he didn't feel too left out by the arrival of his new sister. "Hey Gibbs." Dylan said.

"Whatchya got there?" Gibbs asked.

"It's a DS."

"Right!" Gibbs smiled, what the hell was a DS? Don't they even give things a whole name anymore?Tim carried Jess around introducing her to everyone. She smiled politely but never let go of Tim.

"Wanna go and see your new room?" Abby asked when the introductions were over. Abby pinched Tim discretely and he put Jess down, but she continued to cling to his hand. Abby grabbed her other hand and gave it a squeeze. The doll fell on the ground. Ziva bent to pick it up and Jess let out a high pitched squeal. Ziva jumped back like she'd been shot.

"It's fine. I will not touch your doll Jess." She said. Tim bent to pick it up and passed it to her. "There you go sweetie. Ziva didn't mean to frighten you honey. She was just gonna pass it to you." He placated. Ziva looked at Abby who rolled her eyes and mouthed 'Sorry'. Ziva smiled.

When they got upstairs, Jess went from one thing to another gently touching everything in much the same way that Dylan had. She looked at all the different Barbies lined up on the shelf and smiled. "Are these all mine?" she said.

"They sure are!" Abby said. "And look, you have the princess bed that you wanted , and a table and chairs and a tea set."

"Is that my TV?" she said with her mouth open.

"It sure is. Look, I got you some Disney DVD movie's."

"Oh thank you Mommy."Jess said. Abby looked up at Tim with tears in her eyes. "Ok! Well we have guests, so do you want to come downstairs and meet everyone properly? Or do you wanna play up here with your toys?"

"I wanna be with my Daddy." She said wrapping her arms around Tim's legs.

"Ok, then you can come downstairs with Daddy. We're gonna eat soon anyway."

When they sat down to eat the delicious lunch that Ziva and Tony had prepared, everyone talked at once, as usual filling their plates and their faces at the same time. Zac and Sarah were at the end of the table. Jimmy was next to them, Dyl was next to Jimmy. Ducky and Gibbs were on the other side of the table next to Ziva and Tony. Tim was at the head of the table with Abby by his side. Jess was predictably on Tim's lap even though he had an empty chair next to him.

"Sweetie, you need to sit on the chair NEXT to Daddy." Abby said glaring at Tim over her head. Gibbs would think that such a little thing would wrap a grown man around her little finger he thought. "Otherwise." Abby continued, " he's gonna get sticky pasta and salad in your beautiful hair." Abby looked at Jess's very long blond hair. Although it was beautiful, she had a really bad feeling about how washing it was gonna go. She really didn't want to go through that today.

Tony smiled his really big smile. He knew it was gonna get good eventually but he didn't expect it to be this soon. And something was a bit off here. Usually it was McDaddy that was the bossy one. He seems to have turned into McEasy going all of a sudden. Maybe.......we've fallen into an alternative universe, he thought.

Tim tried to put Jess down on the chair next to him but she wouldn't budge. "Come on sweetie, Mommy's right. You need to sit on the chair."

"No!" she said hanging on tightly, glaring at Abby.

"Come on Jess." He said quietly. "Do it for Daddy."

Dylan was watching this with interest. Like Tony he was a bit confused. Who had taken his Dad and replaced him with this...............other Dad. Abby stood up and undid Jess's hands from Tim's neck. "You have to sit on the chair honey." She said kindly but firmly picking her up and putting her down on the chair. Jess stared at her mutinously. Before either of them could stop her she had swept the plate in front of her, pasta and all onto the carpet. When Abby went to touch her she started screaming. Abby looked desperately at Tim who stood up.

"I'll handle this." he said. Picking Jess up and carrying her upstairs to her room. He closed the door quietly. Abby put her head in her hands and cried.

"I just didn't want her to get food in her hair. I didn't mean to get her in trouble on the first day." She sobbed.

"Abby." Gibbs said. "She's with Tim. She'll be ok."

"I suppose. She said."

Upstairs Tim sat in the rocker with Jess. She clung to his neck. "Shhh it's ok." he soothed. "Would you like me to sing to you?" he asked She nodded. "What would you like me to sing?"

She shrugged.

"You know when Sarah was a little girl her favourite song was the Barbie song."

She looked at him in wonder. "There's a song about Barbies?"

"Sure there is. And he started to sing

_I'm a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world  
Life in plastic, it's fantastic.  
You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere.  
Imagination, life is your creation._

_Come on Barbie, let's go party!_

_Come on Barbie, lets go party!_

_Come on Barbie, lets go party!_

_Come on Barbie, lets go party!_

_Come on Barbie, lets go party!_

Downstairs Ziva was helping Abby to clean up the mess and Tony put his hand on his friends shoulder. "Would you like me to go and discretely see if everything's alright up there?"

"Would you Tony?"

"For you Abs, of course."

When he got to the stairs though far from hearing anyone crying, Tim or Jess, he could hear laughing and.......was that the Probie singing?" He opened the door just a crack and it was all he could do not to laugh out loud at the sight. Never one to miss an opportunity, he pulled out his cell and began taking video of the scene in front of him.

Tim got up out of the chair and picked up one of the Barbie's off the shelf and started to dance around with it in front of his face, pretending that the doll was singing and acting out the song.

Tony had seen a lot of fun stuff at this house, but this was the ultimate. Tony held his cell up through the door to make sure that got the grand finale._  
_

_Make me walk, make me talk, do whatever you please,  
I can act like a star, I can beg on my knees.  
Come jump in, Barbie friend, let us do it again,  
Hit the town, fool around, lets go party_

_You can touch, you can play, if you say: "I'm always yours"  
You can touch, you can play, if you say_

_"I'm always yours"_

_Come on Barbie, lets go party!_

_Come on Barbie, lets go party!_

_Come on Barbie, lets go party!_

_Come on Barbie, lets go party!_

When he was sure that the song was finished he carefully closed the door leaving father and daughter alone in their moment. Then he ran down stairs two at a time to share his footage.

As he reached the dining room,Tony could hardly talk he was so excited. "Ziva where's your purse?" he said.

"What do you want?"

"The cord thingy.....you know the cord thingy that makes the pictures from the phone come up on the TV."

"Oh." she said passing him the cord."

"Dinozzo! What the hell are you going on about?"

"The probie, you've got to see this.......so funny...."

"I think he said Jethro, that something was funny." Ducky said watching him curiously.

"No,Doctor Mallard" Jimmy said, "he said that the Probie DID something funny."Jimmy corrected.

"I'sn't that what I just said." Ducky said

"Whatever he said just get on with it Tony."

"You better not have filmed Tim spanking Jess Tony." Abby said.

"I don't think he spanked her Abs." he said clicking a button and bringing an image to the screen.

Their mouths all dropped open at the image of Tim dancing around doing Barbie impersonations. Everyone started to laugh even Gibbs,but they managed to hold it in when they saw Tim coming back in the room holding Jess's hand.

Tony didn't see them come back in and he was still laughing. "Look at .......the .....dance..." he said hardly able to even straighten up.

Jess let go of Tim's hand and rushed at Tony kicking him in the shins hard and biting him on the hand. With her little hands on her hips she yelled "Don't you EVER laugh at my Daddy again!"

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Thankyou all for your lovely reviews and alerts. It really helps me to know what you're all thinking. :)

Chapter 4

There was an audible gasp in the room and all eyes were on Tim, waiting to see if he would actually react to Jess's behaviour. He seemed totally oblivious as he rushed over to his blond haired blue eyed princess. "It's alright Jess, Tony wasn't really laughing at Daddy, WERE YOU TONY!" he said with a scowl at Tony.

Tony's look was incredulous, as were most of the faces in the room. Except for Gibbs who looked worried and Abby who looked pissed. As Ducky made to inspect Tony's hand he looked fearfully at Jess. "Did you ever see that movie Duck, 'Children of the Damned'." He then whispered. "Do you think I might need a Tetanus shot?"

Ducky looked at him with a serious expression. "She's a little girl Anthony, not a rabid dog."

Abby stalked over to her husband and daughter and now Jess wasn't the only one with her hands on her hips. Turning Jess away from Tim she got down to her level. "That was very naughty Jess. You do not kick or bite anyone! Do you hear me?" Tim opened his mouth to say something. Abby looked over Jess's head at him with narrowed eyes, he closed his mouth. "Now you better march up those stairs to your room and stay there until I say you can come down. Before you go, say sorry to Tony."

Jess glared at Tony and said nothing. She turned her face to Tim's voice as he said. "You better say sorry Honey."

She looked back at Tony and said not very convincingly. "I'm sorry."

"Now go to your room." Abby said. Jess looked at Tim and he nodded. Abby glared at him. Jess slowly made her way up the stairs.

When she heard the door close, Abby turned on Tim punching him hard in the arm. "WHO ARE YOU! AND WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY HUSBAND!"

Gibbs spoke quietly in Jimmy's ear and he immediately took Dylan's hand and said "Hey Dyl. Wanna go and shoot some baskets. This stuff's boring."

With a worried look at his parents he followed Jimmy. Zac and Sarah weren't far behind him. "Can we play too? We can play two on two."

"How about Ducky, that you and I get the dessert and we will set it up on the patio?"Ziva said.

"An excellent idea my dear."Ducky said glad of reason to escape.

Predictably, Tony had all intentions of watching the show. After all he was a victim now, that gave him the right to see what was going to happen didn't it? Gibbs didn't think so and expressed that none too gently with a slap to the back of Tony's head. "Come on, we'll clean up the lunch things." Gibbs said.

"Why me Boss?!"

"Because, you started this mess with your stupid video."

"Well I can't wash. I have an injury. "He said looking closely at his hand.

"They have a dishwasher and don't be such a baby."

When they found themselves alone Tim turned to Abby. "I'm sorry. I handled that badly didn't I?"

"Ya think McGee? Actually, I wouldn't say you handled it badly."Tim's face brightened ever so slightly. "I'd say you didn't handle it at all!"

"Abby I..........I don't know why I.............it's harder this time. She looks at me with those big baby blues and........"

"You melt. I can see that Timmy. Like I said you're besotted. And I know that you can't really help it at the moment so I'll cut you some slack. For a little while. I'll be the mean one. But Tim, you are the self appointed head of this family; it's what keeps us stable. It's what you do best. So you better come back to us soon before it all falls apart and you're looking at those baby blue eyes through jail cell bars."

"I'm still here Abby and I'm not gonna let that happen."

"I'd like to think you wouldn't. But you're not the same. And Tim?"

"Yeh Abs?"

"Try and remember that you have two kids!"

"Oh God Dylan!"

"Yeh that's him. He still needs you. Why don't you go outside and play with him and the others while I go and talk to our daughter."

Upstairs Abby took a big breath before walking into Jess's room. She had a look of panic on her face. Abby went and sat in the rocker. "Come here." she said quietly." Jess didn't move.

"Where's Daddy?"

"Daddy is downstairs playing with Dylan and Sarah and the rest of our guests. He's giving us some time to have a little talk."

"I wanna be with Daddy." She said starting towards the door. Abby walked over calmly and picked her up, bringing her back to the rocking chair. She sat down and pulled the squirming little girl into her lap. She started rocking her. "I'll take you down to Daddy after. You're up here because you're in trouble. You bit Tony and kicked him and that wasn't nice." Abby gently turned her face up so she was looking at her. "Mommy sent you up here because you bit and kicked Tony." Abby repeated. "Do you understand that?"

Nothing.

"Answer me please Jess."

Nothing.

"Ok if you don't wanna talk to me then you can listen and I'll talk. You're our little girl now. You belong here. We love you. But you can't just do what ever you want. And, you can't just have Daddy all to your self. Daddy is Dylan's Daddy too, and Sarah's brother. They need to spend some time with him also. So your gonna have to share him. And I want spend some time with YOU too so do Sarah and Dylan." She said hugging her close. For the first time Jess didn't really pull away.

"Now the other thing is the rules." Abby thought about this. It really wasn't her forte but needs must. She should probably keep this pretty simple she guessed. "You have to do what Daddy and I tell you, even if you don't want to. You have to keep your hands and you feet and your teeth to your self. No telling lies and no stealing. If you break the rules, you'll be punished."

"Are you gonna spank me?" a quiet little voice said.

"Maybe. I definitely will if you hit, kick or bite again. Or sometimes I might take away your dollies or make you go to bed early. Or if you're really naughty Daddy might spank you." Jess's mouth dropped open. Abby didn't really see that happening in the near future but the threat didn't hurt. "Do you hear?"

"I hear." Jess cuddled into Abby.

"When I was a little girl my grammy used to sing me a special song. Would you like to hear it?"

Jess nodded.

You Are My Sunshine  
My only sunshine

You make me happy  
When skies are grey.  
You'll never know, dear,  
How much I love you.  
Please don't take my sunshine away

The other nite, dear,

As I lay sleeping

I dreamed I held you in my arms.

When I awoke, dear,

I was mistaken

And I hung my head and cried.

You are my sunshine,

My only sunshine.

You make me happy

When skies are grey.  
You'll never know, dear,  
How much I love you.  
Please don't take my sunshine away.

Abby looked down and found that her little girl had drifted off to sleep. Carefully, she laid her in her new princess bed and pulled the covers over her. As she watched her sleeping peacefully she had to smile. Where was Dinozzo with his camera phone now?

Abby left the door open and walked quietly down the stairs and outside to join the others. Pouring herself a cup of coffee, she went and stood with Gibbs, watching as the others all laughed and played with the basketball.

"You ok?" Gibbs asked.

"Yeh, I'm fine." She said smiling pleased to note that she really was fine. How's Dyl doing."

"Better now that Tim's playing with him again for a while." Gibbs said. "You two talk?"

"Yeh, he's a bit confused at the moment but we'll be ok. I guess it's my turn to be the grown up for a little while. I just hope that he doesn't take long to realise that she needs a strong male role model not a pushover."

"It won't take him long." Gibbs said with a knowing smile. "He loves all of you. He just has to learn how to balance things a bit better." He kissed Abby on the head and she went to join the others.

A little while later a little blond head peaked out the back door searching. Tim's face went from Jess's to Dylan's. He really didn't want to choose. Sarah grabbed Tim's arm. "Keep playing with Dyl. I have this." Tim looked at her gratefully and planted a kiss on the top of her head. She moved fast scooping Jess up before she had a chance to protest.

"You know what Jess, there's some other family members you haven't met yet." She said walking with purpose down the back of the yard. Gibbs walking discretely behind just in case the dogs got too rambunctious. Rex and Lulu were very excited and were jumping up and down and turning in circles. Jess giggled. "What are their names?" she asked.

"The big one is Rex and the little one is Lulu." Sarah said. Would you like to hold Lulu?"

Jess nodded. "Say yes please." Gibbs said. She just stared at him.

"If you'd like to hold Sarah's dog, then you have to use your manners."

"Yes please Sarah." She said politely. Sarah put her down and she sat on the grass. Lulu immediately climbed into her lap. Rex, in an effort not to be left out, licked her face and lay down with his head on one of her legs. Gibbs shook his head. Looks like she's won some more hearts he thought with a grin. They seemed to be fine so Gibbs went back over to get some more coffee.

After a little while, Sarah and Jess were actually having fun playing with the dogs. Sarah picked up one of the dog's balls and threw it, Jess giggled at the comical sight of the giant dog and the tiny dog racing to get the same ball. "Would you like to have a try?" Sarah asked.

"Yes please." Jess said. Taking the ball and throwing it. She nearly fell over laughing when Lulu actually managed to get the ball before Rex. Sarah turned when she felt familiar arms tighten around her waist. She turned to kiss Zac.  
"Hey there Jess." Zac said. "Having fun with the dogs?" he said taking Sarah's hand. Jess just glared. "Go away!"she said suddenly.

"That's not very polite Jess. Zac's my friend." Sarah said. "I bet he'd like to be your friend too."

"I sure would." Zac said. Jess poked out her tongue. Zac hid a smile. Sarah didn't really know what to do so she didn't do anything. She sat on the grass and Zac sat behind her rubbing her back. Jess went back to throwing the ball to the dogs but instead of just standing there she was running around in circles before she threw it. Sarah just thought it was part of the game she was playing until she circled behind them and threw the ball hard at the back of Zac's head. The ball wasn't hard but it was covered with copious quantities of Rex's drool which was now running all down the back of Zac's neck.

Unfortunately for Jess Abby had seen exactly what she did. She had been enjoying watching the little girl playing and was shocked to see her actually line the ball up and pitch it straight at the back of Zac's head. Stomping up behind her she grabbed Jess's hand and spun her around. "Jessica McGee! You apologise to Zac this minute." She said.

"Sorry Zac." She said.

Turning her to the side Abby landed a half a dozen smacks to her bottom and took her over with her to the patio and stood her in the corner. "Five minutes" she said. She sat trying to ignore Jess's crying while carrying on a conversation with Ducky like nothing had happened. He patted her leg and he kept on talking, trying to take her mind off the noise that was breaking her heart. Gibbs went to play basketball with the others so that he could deter Tim if he looked like he was going to interfere. To his credit. He didn't. He was actually watching silently. Guilt and pride battled with each other as he watched his Abby take charge. It was her first day with her little girl too. He never should have left her out on a limb to cope by herself. What the hell was he thinking.

By the time the five minutes were up Jess was barely sniffling. Abby went and pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sorry Mommy." Jess said.

"Why Jess? Why did you do that to Zac?"

She shrugged.

"You must have a reason."

"Because Sarah and me were having fun. I didn't want him to be there."

"But he didn't want to stop you having fun with Sarah, he wanted to have fun with you too."

"I just wanted Sarah."

"I'm sorry sweetie but you can't have everything you want." Abby said.

"Why?"

"Because you just can't. Your Mommy's right. And you better not let me catch you doing anything like that again. OK?" Tim said pulling her gently around to face him. It was very naughty of you to throw your food on the floor and you shouldn't have kicked Tony or bitten him this morning either. Daddy will smack your bottom if you do that again. Ok?"

"Ok." She said hugging him.

"You know what Miss Jess, you didn't eat any lunch. How about you come inside with me and I'll fix you something to eat." Ducky said holding out his hand. Jess looked at Tim.

"Good idea Ducky, off you go Jess and make sure you eat it all up for Daddy ok?"

"Ok." She said taking Ducky's hand.

Tim pulled Abby into a big hug. "I'm BA-CK!" he said. "I'm really sorry Abs. I don't know what I was thinking. Can you forgive me?"

"Maybe." She said. "You might have to make it up to me."

"I think that can be arranged." He said trailing kisses down her neck and across her bare shoulder and back up to claim her lips. His hands moved lower to squeeze her ass as he deepened the kiss."Abby jolted as they were suddenly interrupted by Dylan's voice.

"You two should really get a room." He said cheekily. As soon as Tim turned to chase him, he started giggling. "Don't blame me Dad, Tony told me to say it." And then the chase was on, although who was chasing who was not really clear, they all seemed to be in on it including the dogs, except for the two in the kitchen. Jess was listening intently to one of Ducky's stories while she ate a plate of Tony's pasta. And for a short while at least there was peace.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you all for your lovely reviews and the alerts. I appreciate all of them and they help me to write :)

Chapter 5

As the sun rose on the Mcgee house the next morning, Abby lay in her husband's arms content for the moment but going over in her mind what she had to do that day. Ideally she would have liked to take a few days off to settle Jess. But at the last meeting when they had signed the final adoption papers, they had been assured that Jess's education shouldn't be disrupted any more than necessary. So school had to be a priority.

It made sense for her to attend the same school as Dylan so they would go in to work late today and enrol her at the Catholic grade school that he attended. They had spoken on the phone already at length but they still had to sign some papers. After this was taken care of, Abby would then take her to be fitted for her uniforms.

At the sound of the alarm Tim leaned over sleepily and kissed her. "Good morning." He said. "You want first shower or you wanna join me? We could save time and water ?"

"Tempting Timmy but........Na you go. I better go wake the kids and put the coffee on."

Abby stuck her head in Sarah's room first, "Time to get up Sar....... Sarah, Morning!"

"Yep, yep, I'm up she said turning back over." Abby shook her head and went to try Dylan. She'd try Sarah again after she put the coffee on.

"Hey Dyl. Time to get up and get ready for school." Nothing. "Dylan, come on sleepy head. Time to get up !" She ruffled his hair.

"Ok." He said sitting up.

"Good boy. What would you like for breakfast?"

"Cereal please."

"Your wish is my command." Abby said as she walked towards the door.

When she opened Jess's door, she was already up. She had her Barbie's all lined up and was playing some little game. "Good morning Jess. Did you have a good sleep?"

"Morning Mommy." She said. "I've been playing with my dollies."

"I can see that. Did you have fun?"

"Yep."

"That's good honey, but we're gonna have to pack them up now and go and have breakfast. We have a lot to do today. Let's get you dressed."

"I wanna wear the Snow White dress that Ziva gave me."

"Well although that is a beautiful dress,(Which I really must thank Ziva for later, Abby thought sarcastically) it's a dress up dress. We have to enrol you at the school today and we have to go to Mommy and Daddy's work. I don't think that's really the right dress for those things. Let's see if we can find something else to wear."

They went and looked in the closet. Jess got the new Snow White dress out. Abby took it and put it back. "How about this nice denim skirt and this pretty pink t-shirt?"

"Na." she said shaking her head. "I'm gonna wear this one." And the Snow White dress was dragged from the closet again. Abby took a big breath and looked at her watch and at the (not so gorgeous today) tangled mess of Jess's hair. We're never going to get out of this house on time, she thought.

"Fine Jess. Wear the Snow White dress, but today we're braiding your hair."

"I don't wanna have braids." Abby sighed.

"You're having them and guess who's gonna do them for you?"Abby said with a smile.

"Who?"

"Your Daddy."

"Jess smiled and started to get dressed." Tim stuck his head in the door already dressed in his suit.

"Is.........that what she's wearing to the meeting at the school?"

"Yep! Don't ask!" Abby said tossing him a hair brush. "Get the knots out Timmy and we need two braids, hair elastics are in the bathroom."

"Good morning Daddy. Do you like my dress?"

"Good morning Princess and yes I do. It's beautiful."

Abby ran downstairs and put the coffee on and poured three bowls of cereal and put the milk and some spoons on the table and ran back upstairs to have a shower and wake up Sarah again. "Sarah. Sarah! Come on! Your gonna be late." Losing patience and time Abby walked over to the bed and pulled all the covers off and tapped her on the butt. "UP! Sarah. Now!"

"I'm up. Geez Abby you don't have to shout."

After Abby had showered and changed and come back downstairs, she was happy to find all three of the kids dressed and eating. Timmy was outside fixing the dogs. As soon as Abby appeared though, the arguing started.

"Mom, is she really gonna come to my school dressed like that?" Dylan asked desperately.

"Dyl she's just a little girl. Your friends won't even take notice."

"Yes they will. Because Daddy said my dress was beautiful."

Dylan rolled his eyes. "Sure they won't. But who'd care anyway. As long as she's happy." He said under his breath.

Tim had come in from outside and heard what was said. He spun Dylan around to face him. "We all care. Just the same as always. The dress is new and Jess is only gonna wear it today. She won't even be at the school for long. Tomorrow when she goes to school properly, she'll wear a uniform like you."

Jess looked horrified.

"The girl version." He said to Jess before she started complaining. "Yours will have a skirt."

"I'm not wearing it if it's ugly." Jess said to no one in particular.

Tim went across the kitchen to Abby who was throwing her coffee in the sink. "Let's go soon, I really need a caf-pow. It's been a long morning."she said.

"I think tomorrow we better set the alarm to wake up even earlier, I don't think she's gonna wear the uniform without a fight." Tim said quietly.

"Shit!" Abby said.

"Language?" Tim mouthed almost inaudibly.

Abby poked her tongue out behind her hand. "Sometimes Timmy, it's the only word that helps. Well there is one other word but I can't really use that any more can I?"

"Ah No! That wouldn't be the best idea."

"OK! Time to go everyone. Grab your gear!" and they all filed out.

They dropped off Sarah first and then in a show of empathy Tim dropped off Dylan before parking the car. Then he and Abby and Jess walked in to the main office for their meeting with the principal. If Sister Mary Catherine thought that it was odd that Jess was wearing a Snow White dress she was discreet enough not to say anything. At first. Abby had already discussed details of the adoption and possible problems over the phone so that it wouldn't be necessary to do this in front of Jess. So it was really just a matter of signing papers and showing them around the school and where Jess's class would be. With that fixed up, they were almost ready to leave when Sister Mary Catherine nodded to the dress and said "Although it's difficult with little girls sometimes to get them to wear what you want them too, it is mandatory that Jess wears the uniform the same as everyone else."

"Oh we know she has to wear the uniform."Tim said nodding so furiosly that Abby thought his head might fall off.

"We know." Abby said smiling. "We'll make sure."

Abby dropped Tim at NCIS and then made a quick trip to buy Jess's uniforms.

That didn't go so well. "I don't like these clothes. They're yucky."

"I know they're not that pretty, but when you get to school you'll look the same as everyone else."

"I don't wanna look the same as everyone else." She said pouting.

"While I can understand that probably better than most people, Sister Mary Catherine is gonna want you to wear these. And she's the boss!"

"She's not the boss of me." Jess said with her hands on her hips.

"Ah yes, when you're at school, yes she is."

"Nah ah! No way!"

"Loose the attitude Jess or this is not gonna end well."

Jess put her tongue just on the edge of her lips but stopped short of actually poking it out.

"I mean it." Abby said. "Don't do it."

Jess pulled her tongue back in and settled for pouting with her arms folded until Abby was facing the counter paying for the clothes. Then she poked her tongue out behind her back. She didn't realise that Abby could see her in the mirror. She leaned down and smacked her on the bottom once. "Jess didn't you know that Mommies have eyes in the back of their head." Jess's mouth dropped open for a minute and then she closed it and narrowed her eyes.

"I'm not wearin those yucky clothes anyway." That earned her another smack but she didn't care. She wasn't wearin those yucky clothes and no one could make her.

When they arrived at NCIS they went into the bull pen to say hello. Jess ran up and threw herself at Tim, sobbing. "What happened sweetie?" he said playing with her braids and soothing her.

"Mommy's mean."

Uh oh! Tim thought. He was heading into dangerous territory here, he should have known. "What did you do Jess?" Abby was waiting over by Ziva's deak to see how this was gonna pan out.

"Nothing.I didn't do nothing. I don't like those yucky school clothes. And she hit me." Tim almost laughed but one look at Abby told him that if he ever wanted to have sex again in this lifetime, it wouldn't be the best course of action.

Tony put his feet up on the desk and waited for the show. This little firecracker was just waiting to go off. He could feel it. Even Gibbs was interested in what was gonna happen here. "Now Jess, you don't refer to your mother as 'she'. It's disrespectful. And I'm sure she didn't hit you." He said looking at Abby for her side of what happened.

"I smacked her once in the uniform shop for poking her tongue out at me. And once for being rude and I gave her a few whacks after I parked the car for trying to throw the school clothes out the window while I was driving on the freeway." Abby said looking at Tim with barely restrained anger.

"Ok. Looks like you deserved all that kiddo. Apologise to your Mommy please."

"Why Daddy?" she said putting her arms around his neck and poking out her bottom lip.

Oh she's good. Tony thought. She's got the cute thing down to a fine art. Gibbs grinned and so did Ziva. Abby didn't ,she tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at Tim. He unwound Jess's arms and looked into her eyes. Apologise to Mommy. Right now."

Sensing that she might be losing her biggest fan she shifted nervously. Tim lifted her off his knee and gave her a little push towards Abby. "Go ahead. Say sorry."

"I'm so.......I'm sorry that ......" She looked at Tim and back at Abby. "I'm sorry that YOU'RE SO MEAN!" she said. Tony laughed so hard that his chair tipped backwards and he fell on the ground. Jess made a run for it. Tim tried to catch her but she was too fast. Abby darted the other direction but she missed her as well. By now they were all chasing her around, but she was fast, not even the long Snow White dress slowed her down. Gibbs put his fingers in his mouth and let out a loud whistle and they all stopped. Except Jess, who made a run for the door. "Jessica McGee! Freeze!" Gibbs said loudly. She did. Don't you dare run away from your Daddy." Slapping Tim on the back of the head he said quietly "Go and get your daughter Tim. She's six. You're a trained federal agent. Surely your not gonna let one small girl get the better of you."

"Of course not boss!" Tim said. Grabbing Jess's hand he smacked her hard on the bottom and marched her over to Abby. "Now! Apologise to your Mommy."

"I'm sorry Mommy." she said with tears in her eyes. She couldn't believe that her Daddy had actually smacked her. All because of mean Mommy and the ugly clothes.

"That's ok Honey." Abby said giving her a hug. "I think that Daddy needs to spend some time with you now, so I'm just gonna go down to my lab and do some work. OK?"

"Ok."she said sweetly. "Daddy can I draw?"

""Sure sweetie. here you go I'll get you some paper." Tim set her up with some paper and markers on a desk next to Tony. She was an angel for ages, intent on her very colourful picture.

"Are you having fun Angel?" Tim said.

"Yeh, I'm drawing a picture for Mommy."

"That's very sweet. I'm sure she'll love it."

Tony IM'd Ziva. _You've gotta see this picture!_

_What did she draw?_

_I don't wanna spoil it. Get up and have a discreet look._

Ziva got up and circled the desk without letting on that she'd seen. When she sat down, Gibbs got up and did the same thing, hiding a smile behind his hand.

When she was finished, she folded up the paper and gave the markers back to Tim. "I'm finished." She said.

"Good girl, can I see your picture?"

"Not yet." She said. "I want Mommy to see it first."

I bet you do! thought Gibbs.

"Ok. We can go and visit with Mommy now if you want, and give it to her."

Jess smile. "OK."

When the elevator reached Abby's floor Tim got out with a beaming smile. He was sure that this surprise would make Abby's day.

"Hi there!" Abby said giving them both a hug. "To what do I owe this lovely visit?"

"Jess's made you a surprise." Tim said grinning. "Give it to her Jess." Jess handed over the folded up picture and Abby opened it an glared at Tim.

"WHAT?!!" he said panicking.

Abby continued her glare and turned the picture around for him to see. "Oh Abby I.......she didn't let me see.......I.."

There on the picture were a lot of children outside what looked to be a school, all wearing a uniform, Except for the one in the middle. She had very long blond hair and a Snow White dress.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

Thank you all so much for the reviews I really appreciate them. I'd like to also thank all the people who review anonymously as I can't thank you personally. So thanks :)

Chapter 6

That evening, when they got home, Dylan went to ride his bike out the front of their house with Toby. Sarah was in her room doing homework and Abby and Tim were bathing Jess and attempting to wash her hair so she'd be ready for school the next day. It shouldn't have really needed both of them, but as with everything else, Jess was putting up a fight with the hair washing resulting in both Abby and Tim being half drowned. Screams could be heard half way down the street.

"Boy that's really loud in there. Does she always scream like that?" Toby said.

"Only if she doesn't wanna do something or if she doesn't like something. They're just trying to wash her stupid hair." He said rolling his eyes.

"What's she like?"

"She's ok........she's really naughty, but sometimes she's funny. It was funny the other day when she bit Tony."

"She BIT Tony?"

"And kicked him! And that was after she threw all her food on the floor."

"I bet your Dad was mad."

"My Mom was. My Dad let's her do anything."

"But your Dad's really strict."

"Not anymore. Wanna go to the park?"

"Um, I don't know. Shouldn't we ask first?"

"If we ask they'll probably say no. If we just go, they probably won't even notice. Besides, we won't stay away long."

"Ok. But we better be quick." And off they rode towards the park.

Jess was finally out of the bath and her hair was washed and conditioned. Abby had gotten changed into her pyjamas as she was really wet and Tim was just in the shower now while Abby dried Jess's hair with the hair dryer. She looked at her daughter with her shimmering hair, in her 'I'm special' nightdress, and she wondered how such a gorgeous looking child could be such a little devil. She was cute. Very cute. And Abby secretly admired her inner smart ass. She was certainly strong willed and sharp as a her around and pulling her into a big hug Abby said "There we go, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"I don't like the water in my eyes."

"Ok, well I'll buy a special jug to rinse your hair so the water doesn't go in your eyes ok?"

Jess nodded and put her head sleepily on Abby's shoulder.

Tim stuck his head in and smiled at his two favourite girls cuddled up in their pyjamas. "Hey Abs. Have you seen Dylan? He was riding his bike out the front with Toby and Toby's Mom's at the door. They're not there anymore."

Abby jumped up with Jess on her hip. "The last time I saw him they were just sitting on their bikes talking, but that was about an hour ago. Tim, it's almost dark." She said trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

Tim kissed her gently. "Don't panic. Their bikes are missing too which probably just means that they've ridden off somewhere. Probably to the park. I'll go and find them."

Just as he was about to pull the car out of the driveway, the two escapees came riding up the street. As they saw Tim , they hopped off their bikes and looked at each other grimacing. Tim got out of the car and slammed the door. "Where on earth have you two been. Your mother's are both worried sick, you better go home Toby, and you, young man better put that bike in the garage. You won't be needing it for at least a week. Then go up to your room and wait for me." He waited for Dylan to pass him and then he pulled the car back up the driveway and parked.

When he came in through the back door, Abby was in the kitchen. "You saw him?"

"Yeh. He's in his room. You going up to talk to him?"

"Yep. He left the street Abby. He knows better. You know how dangerous it is for kids to be out after dark."

Abby nodded. She knew he was right but something felt off. Dylan wasn't himself. Still, if they let him get away with it this time, where would he go next time?

Up in Dylan's room, Tim sat on Dylan's bed. "Come here Dyl." He said. "Why would you do such a silly and dangerous thing. You know that you're not allowed to leave the street. Why did you?"

"I wanted to go to the park."

"Why?"

Dylan shrugged. "I don't know."

"You must have a reason."

"Because it was there, because I wanted to, I dunno." He said. He was thinking, because I wanted to see if you'd come looking for me.

"Well what ever the reason, it's not ok for you to wander off where ever you want." Tim pulled him over his knee and spanked him hard ten times. He stood him up and gave him a big hug, he kissed him on the head and said. "That's not all Dyl, you're grounded and you can't ride your bike for two weeks."

"That's sooo not fair! That's bullshit!"

"What did you just say to me?"

"I said that's bullshit! And it is!"

Tim pulled him back over his knee and pulled down his jeans landing another half a dozen smacks on his already sore backside. "After dinner you can come straight up to bed Dylan and I better not hear that language out of your mouth again." Tim said.

"I don't want any dinner. I'm not hungry."

"Are you sure? Mom's making your favourite spaghetti?"

"I'm sure." He said.

After Tim had left the room, Dylan burst into tears. Why had he told them about Jess. Now Dad had her to love he really didn't need him anymore. Why else would he be sooo mean. He did one thing wrong and he got spanked and grounded and had his bike taken. Dumb stupid Jess threw her food on the floor and all he did was play Barbie's with her. She bites and kicks Tony and he YELLS AT TONY! She's his little princess now and he guessed that maybe he should find another Dad. Tony would be a good Dad, and he didn't have any kids and Ziva seemed nice. Not as nice as Mom, but nice. Maybe.........but how would he get there. And then there was Rex.

Sarah poked her head in the door. "Hi Dyl, you ok?"

Dylan burst into tears again and Sarah came up and sat on the bed and cuddled him. "Your ass sore?" she said trying to make him smile. Didn't work. He nodded.

"I kind of figured. You shouldn't have gone off Dyl."

"I know, but we weren't gonna be gone long we just lost track of time."

"That's hardly the point. You shouldn't have gone in the first place."

"I know."

"Never mind." she said kissing his head. "We all do dumb stuff every once in a what's the rest of your punishment?"

"I got two spankings and I'm grounded and I can't use my bike for two weeks."

"Ouch! Why two spankings?"

"Because I said that all the other punishments were bull shit."

"Ok.....that'll do it Dyl.....Just a little bit of advice, when the folks are already pissed? Not a good idea to antagonise them more."

"I get that now." He said drolly.

"Sarah?"

"Yeh Dyl?

"Can you help me with my homework?"

"Sure I will. After dinner ok? Come on." she said.

"I don't want dinner."

"Come on....how's being hungry gonna make you feel any better?"

That seemed pretty logical. "I guess it won't." he said.

"Come on, I'll give you a piggy back."

Abby and Tim were both pleased to see that Sarah was able to get Dylan to come down to dinner. They both said. "Hi Dyl" and left it at that. Not wanting to embarrass him. He ate his dinner but was quiet throughout. When everyone was finished he said to Sarah "Could you please help me now?"

"Course. Come on. I'm just gonna help Dyl with his homework." She said.

"Thanks Sarah." Abby said. "I'll be up later to kiss you goodnight honey." She said to Dylan. But he was already gone.

Tim and Abby had put Jess to bed and were watching a bit of TV. Surprisingly, she'd gone out like a light. She had had a pretty eventful day.

"So what happened with Dyl?" Abby said. "He's very quiet."

"I know. I hope I wasn't too hard on him but I had to spank him a second time."

"Why?!"

"When I told him that he was grounded and couldn't use his bike for two weeks, he told me it was 'bullshit'."

"Dylan said that?"

"I know. I was shocked too. But Abby what would have happened if you said that to your father. Better still, what would happen to you NOW, if you said that to Gibbs?"

"Yeh I get the point, but Timmy he's 's really angry. We need to find out what's going on with him. Obviously it has something to do with Jess but which exact thing."

"I know. We'll talk to him tomorrow."

Up stairs Sarah was helping Dylan with his list for school. "This is really weird homework Dyl."

"Yeh I know. Still gotta do it I suppose."

"Ok well I should be able to get the information off my laptop. Here you go....."

I just have to go into my room and print it out. I'll be right back. About five minutes later Sarah came back, and handed Dylan the list he asked for. ( A list of all the team and their addresses.) Actually, he only needed one address but he couldn't think of any other way to get it without saying he needed it for homework. But he felt really bad for lying to Sarah, she'd been really nice to him. When he got settled in his new home, he'd have to think of something nice to do for her. He thanked Sarah and gave her a hug. "No problem squirt. I better go and finish my own homework now." Dylan looked around his room sadly. He was sure gonna miss it here.

The next morning, Abby and Tim woke up extra early, prepared to do battle over the uniform. To their surprise though, when they opened Jess's door, she was already dressed IN THE UNIFORM! They looked at each other and smiled. "Aren't you a good girl." Abby said. "You've made Mommy's day." She said giving her a kiss.

"You're such a good little princess Jess. Come on, why don't we go downstairs and make the school lunches."

"Ok Daddy, she said sweetly."

Abby poked her head into Dylan's room and he was up as well. "We are going well this morning." Abby said smiling. "Good morning my sweet boy." Abby frowned at the tears that sprung to Dylan's eyes. "You ok?"she said sitting on his bed.

"Yeh, I'm tired." He said climbing into her lap. "I'm gonna miss you Mom." he let slip.

"Well I'm gonna miss you too Dyl. You're not sick are you?"

"Na." I'm ok.

"You know you can talk to me right?"

"I know."

"Can I go to school with Toby this morning?" Dylan asked.

"I don't know Dyl, you ARE grounded." Tim said. Looking over at Abby. When she raised her eyebrows and tilted her head as if to say 'let him', he said. "Go on. But straight to school and your still grounded this afternoon."

"Bye everyone." Dyl said taking a long look at his old family. As he got outside, he checked his pockets for the spare back door key and then went to wait around the side of the house until everyone had didn't have to wait that long.

They were just about to leave when Jess remembered she wanted to get something in case they had show and tell. She raced up to her room taking off her back pack, she went into her closet and pulled out the Snow White dress and stuffed it in her bag underneath her lunch. She zipped it back up and smiled and ran back down to the car.

After delivering Sarah and then Jess to school, Abby and Tim picked up coffee and Caf-pow and headed to the office. "That all went pretty smoothly, maybe we're turning a corner." Tim said.

"We can only hope Timmy."

They got out of the elevator together at the bullpen and got on with their usual morning greetings. "Well McMommy and McDaddy, how were your McDevil spawn this morning? How long did it take you to get the princess into her uniform."

"She was no trouble at all. She was already dressed by the time we woke up. And don't call my children devil spawn Tony!"

" I'm surprised."

"I'm not." Gibbs said with a grin. "But I bet you will be." Tim looked at him curiously. Abby frowned.

Back at home Dyl went upstairs and grabbed the bag of stuff that he'd packed. He emptied out his piggy bank last night and come up with forty five dollars and fifty cents. That should be enough to pay for a taxi to Tony and Zivas house. Of course he couldn't take Rex in a taxi, he'd have to figure out a way to get him later. Taking the list that Sarah had given him last night he rang the taxi number that was written next to the phone and gave them his address and then told them where he was going. Tony's address. He knew they wouldn't be home for a while, but he'd just have to wait for them. He had the lunch his Mom had packed him so he wouldn't starve.

A short while later the taxi dropped him off at Tony's address. He went inside the building, up to Tony's door and sat on the ground. He got out his DS and prepared himself for the long wait. He just hoped that Tony and Ziva were gonna want him when they did come home because he didn't know where else to go. He could try Palmer or Gibbs or Ducky, he supposed......

Meanwhile back at NCIS, Abby was just about to go down to the lab when Tim's cell phone rang. "McGee." He answered.

"I'm really sorry......oh......OH....I....don't know what to say........ She had the uniform on when we left this morning........... Yes I understand.........I'll be there soon. No. Oh no! he said he was going.........he was supposed to be getting a lift with Toby. Um, I'll bring some agents with me...and my you.."

"What's happened McGee?!!!" Abby said panicking.

"Um Dylan never got to school. They asked Toby, he said he hadn't seen him at all thought he must be sick......Do you think he stayed home?"

"I don't know. Do you think he could've run away? What about Jess?"

"We have to go and get her she's sort of suspended for the day. She must have snuck the damn Snow White dress into her bag. Sometime after we left she put it on over her uniform and wouldn't take it off. When Sister Mary Clarence tried to make her, she told her she wasn't the boss of her. So when she tried to physically pull the dress over her head and she bit Sister on the hand."

"OH SHIT!" Abby said.

"I wish you'd stop saying that Abby. That's what SHE said after she bit Sister Mary Clarence." Tim's cell rang again. "Oh thank that's a friend's address. We'll go and pick him up now......." Tim held his hand over the reciever while he relayed what had happened. Apparently a taxi driver took his photo with his phone. He recognised the uniform and took the picture to the school."

"Tell them I'll pick up Jess." Gibbs said.

"Oh Sister Mary Clarence? Special Agent Gibbs will be there to pick up Jess. The rest of us are gonna go and find Dylan. Oh and thankyou so much!"

"He's at Tony and Ziva's?" Abby and Gibbs said together.

"He got a cab ....... He must have been running away."

"He went to me?" Tony said proudly puffing his chest out.

"And me." Ziva said.

"Why would he want to run away?" Tim said.

"Look there'll be plenty of time to find that out once we have him."Abby said. "Let's go!" They all left at the same time.

When they got to Tony' an Ziva's building, they all jumped out of the car and ran up the stairs. There was Dylan sitting on the floor playing his DS. "Hey little man."Abby said. "Why are you here? You scared us."

"I'm sorry. I didn't think you'd mind."

"Why wouldn't we mind?" Tim said.

Dylan looked back at Abby and said. "I'm sorry Mom, I kind of knew you'd be upset. I.............Dad has his princess now and Tony and Ziva, they don't have any kids so I thought I might be better here with them."

"Oh Dylly" Abby said tearing up. "How could you say that. We love you. We don't want you to live with anyone else."

Tim didn't know what to say. He knew what he wanted to say but he felt so bad, that he had a big lump in his throat and he couldn't make any words come out. What kind of a moron wouldn't have seen this coming. Over the top of Dylan's head Abby was appealing to Tim with her eyes. Just when he thought that he might burst into tears him self, Tony whacked him in the back of the head and said in his ear. "Not now Probie!"

He took a deep breath and pulled Dylan out of Abby's arms and into his own. "I'm so sorry Dyl if I made you think that I loved Jess more than you. It's just not true. It's just that she's younger and smaller and....... a we'll sort this out. Is it about last night?"

"Kind of. She's done all those bad things and you didn't hardly even punish her at then all I did was go to the park."

"But Dyl your not allowed to go to the park."

"That's why I went. To see if you'd look for me. Nobody even noticed I was gone until it was nearly dark and by then we came back."

"I'm sorry Dyl we were just fixing Jess hair..." It sounded so lame as he said it.

"I know. I didn't want to be a baby but it takes both of you to do nearly everything with Jess. Anyway when I did get back you weren't even pleased to see me. And then you spanked me and you said I was grounded and I couldn't ride my bike. Jess can do what ever she wants and the most she ever gets from you is one smack and that's only because Mom looks at you mean."

"I don't look at people mean."

"Yeh Mom you do sometimes."

"So let me get this straight. When you said that thing to me that earned you the second spanking, you weren't upset that I did all that to you, except that I haven't done any of that to Jess. Is that right?"

Dylan nodded.

"Well I've made some mistakes and we'll talk about things we can work this out. You're not going to live with Tony and Ziva. You're our son and we love you." He said cuddling him. "We need to be getting back to work. Gibbs will be there soon with Jess. Come on." he said taking Dylan's hand.

"Why has Gibbs got Jess? Shouldn't she be at school?"

"Long story bud. And yes she should."

Gibbs arrived at the school and after asking directions, found his way to the principal's office. He said to the secretary, "I'm Special Agent Gibbs, I'm here to collect Jessica McGee." The woman smirked. "Lucky you." Pressing a button she said, "Sister, Special Agent Gibbs is here."

"You can go right in." she said with a smile.

"Sister Mary Clarence?" he said looking over at a very sullen looking Jess.

"Pleased to meet you Special Agent Gibbs."

"What do you have to say to Sister, Jessica?"

Nothing.

"I spoke to you miss."

Nothing.

Gibbs went over and crouched down to Jess's level. "Say sorry to Sister Jess. Right now." A very young pair of stubborn eyes met an older pair of stubborn eyes in a battle of wills. The younger eyes looked away first.

"Sorry Sister."

"Good. Now arms up!"

"No."

"Arms up now Jessica."

"No. You're not touchin my dress." Gibbs stood her up, turned her around and landed a hard smack on her bottom. Holding up one arm at a time he managed to remove the dress. He folded it up stuck it under his arm, grabbed Jess's hand and tilting his head with a curt "Sister." He walked out with Jess in tow.

"Gimme back my dress." She said folding her arms and pouting. Not willing to get into another battle of wills in the middle of the hallway, Gibbs chose to pick her up instead and carry her out top the car. He strapped her into the back seat and climbed into the driver's seat clicking the child proof lock and driving off.

All the way to NCIS Jess kicked the back of Gibbs seat yelling and carrying on about the dress. If they have any sense at all they'll burn that damn dress he thought. "Stop that right now Jess." Gibbs said. "I'm gonna give the dress to your Daddy and he can decide when you get it back. OK?" And if he gives it back to you short of a week, I might just tan HIS ass, he thought. But that seemed to quieten her.

When they got to the bull pen, Gibbs sent Tony to interrogation with both the kids. "Just stay with them will you while I have a talk with McGee?"

"Sure thing boss." Tony said.

"Tim, with me." He said heading to the elevator and flicking the switch when they were both inside. "What do you think the problem is Tim?"

"With which one?"

"With things not coming together. With Jess acting like a little hellion and Dylan running away."

"I think I may have handled things badly."

"In what way?"

"Dylan thinks that I'm hard on him and soft on Jess. He's right. I felt so sorry for her and I wanted to prove to her so badly that we wanted her that I let Dylan feel less than wanted in the process. I never meant to do that."

"I know son. How do you think you can fix it?"

"By being less hard on Dylan I guess and harder on Jess."

"No Tim. You and Dylan had already found your stride. You don't need to mess with that it was working. The problem is how you treat Jess. You can't treat her exactly the same as Dylan, he's older, anymore than you would treat Dylan the same as Sarah. Look they're both in interrogation. Go and observe them . Listen. You'll see what Jess is really like when she talks to Dylan. She plays you Tim and you don't see it.

"But Boss she's only six."

"And she's a smart little girl. You gonna tell me she drew that picture by accident? She knew exactly what she was doing and she knew what she was doing today. Open your eyes. Love her for what she is not the ideal of a perfect little girl because she isn't."

Tim nodded.

"Come on. We'll get Abs and we'll go and watch them for a while. See what they say to each other."

Gibbs called Tony and told him to meet them in the observation room. They all sat there waiting to see what was gonna happen. As soon as Tony left, Jess went and stood right next to Dylan. "Where's Mommy and Daddy?"

"I don't know." He said shrugging. "Maybe they had to finish some work."

"Are they mad?"

"Probably. I ran away and I cut school. That's two things I did wrong at least. What about you?"

"I put the nice dress over the stupid I shouted at Sister and when she touched my dress I bit her."

"Shit!" Dylan said. Abby looked at Tim who gave her a disapproving look. She grimaced and looked back at the kids. " Geez Jess you probably won't get in trouble at home but your gonna go to hell. You can't do that shit to Nun's they're like almost the next best thing to God except for the Priest."

Tony cackled "Nice mouth your kids got there Tim." Abby covered her face.

"And you shouldn't oughtta say shit all the time either."

"Neither should you."

"I'm a princess and princesses are the boss."  
"You're not a princess. And you're not the boss. You're just a dumb little girl."

"I am so a princess." she said pouting. "You better not make me sad or Daddy'll be mad at you. He doesn't like me to be sad."

"OK. I've seen enough." Tim said. Without another word he went out of that room and into the other.

"Sit." He said to both of them.

"Daddy, Dyl made me sad. He said that I wasn't a princess."  
"Shhh." Tim said putting his finger to his lips. "Now. Here's what's gonna happen. You both did the wrong thing today and you're both in trouble."

Jess's mouth dropped open and Dylan didn't say anything. "When we get home you can both go to your rooms. Your both gonna get a spanking. Dylan your ten, so you're getting ten swats. Jess your six, so you're getting six swats. Dylan, your grounding stands. And you're not getting your bike back for two weeks. Jess I'm packing up all of your dollies and you're not getting them back for two the Snow White dress." Jess started to cry. "Sorry Jess but you were very naughty today."

"I know Dyl telled me, you can't do that shit to Nun's."

"Which brings me to the next thing. No... more....cussing. From......anyone!" He said looking pointedly at the viewing window. "Or there will be consequences." Abby blushed. Gibbs smiled and Tony sniggered, Ziva whacked him on the back of the head.

"Shhh" she said.

"Right let's go home."Tim said holding both kids hands.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

Thankyou again for all your lovely reviews I appreciate them all and they definitely make it esier for me to write :)

One small thing, in this chapter, I talk about canned caf-pow, I know this doesn't exist but in my world it does, so I hope that doesn't bother anybody.

Chapter 7

Sarah rode home from school with Zac and was waiting for them when they got there. She immediately threw her arms around Dylan. "Oh Dyl don't you ever run away again like that. If you can't talk to anyone else you can talk to me. No matter what, I'll help you sort it out. Ok?"

"Ok. And Sarah, I'm sorry I lied to you about the homework. I didn't know how else to get Tony and Ziva's address."

"You're forgiven. Just promise me you won't ever scare me like that again."

"Ok kids! Both of you upstairs to your rooms." Tim said. Dylan went, Jess stared at Tim with her bottom lip out. "Daddy...."

"Upstairs now Jess. Don't make me tell you again." Jess turned on her heel and stomped up the stairs.

"You're not gonna spank Dyl again ?" Sarah said to Tim hands on her hips.

"Watch your tone, Sar. You've been so much better lately, don't spoil it now."

"Well pardon me for having an opinion!" Zac put his hands on Sarah's hips trying to calm her by speaking quietly in her ear.

"Shhh Sar, I'm sure Tim is doing what he feels is best."

She turned on him then, "What TIM feels is best, is to spank Dylan for anything and everything and let Jess do whatever the hell she wants. It's not fair. SHIT YOU CAN BE AN ASSHOLE SOMETIMES TIM!"

"Stop right now Sarah, before you get your self into real trouble." Zac said.

Tim rubbed his hand over his face. More repercussions. He had well and truly stuffed this up in so many ways. Abby came from behind him and put her arms around his neck. "I think that we need to sit down and talk calmly." She said looking directly at Sarah.

"I agree." Zac said. "That is you all should sit down and talk calmly. I should go home. This is family business."

"No Zac Abby's right. We all need to talk about this and you're around here a lot. You're practically family anyway." Tim said motioning for them all to sit. "Sar, I know I've made mistakes, but I'm doing the best that I can to fix them. Now sit down and we'll talk."

"Sarah, I've talked to Dylan and we've listened to them talk to each other and we've learned a few things today. Firstly, Dylan is not upset at being punished, only that he feels Jess has been let off too easily. That's my fault ."

"No shit Sherlock!" Sarah said, which earned her a slap on her leg from Abby.

"Enough sarcasm and language Sarah." She said. "Sorry Zac." She said, thinking she had embarrassed him.

"Don't apologise you beat me to it is all." Sarah did a double take, then opened her mouth and closed it again without saying anything. Her face blushed bright red.

"As I was saying I am going to make the punishments even from now on. Now they are both getting spanked and they are both losing privileges. The spankings that Dyl got last night were well deserved and I won't apologise for that. Today is today and we'll move on from there. The last thing is the language. It stops. Now. Clear?"  
"Yeh." Sarah nodded.

"Abby?"

"Yes, I can see why we can't have kids that say 'SHIT' to nun's." she said grinning. This time Tim slapped her leg, even if it was playful it stung and it was a message she didn't miss.

"She didn't say that to Sister Mary Clarence?"Sarah said grinning.

"And more." Abby said.

"You can fill them in on all the gory details while I go and deal with the kids." Tim said rising.

Upstairs, Tim went into Jess's room carrying a box. He put it down on the floor and went to sit on the bed. Jess crawled up into his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I love you Daddy." She said sweetly.

"And I love you too. That's why Daddy has to punish you. You've been very naughty and it's Daddy's job to teach you to do the right thing."

"You're not really gonna spank me are you?"

"I'm afraid I am."

"But I'm a princess. Princesses don't get spanked."

"Naughty princesses do get spanked." Tim said sadly and he turned her around on his lap, face down. Lifting up her skirt he spanked her hard six times. He felt terrible. She cried so hard that no noise came out." Take a breath sweetie." he said, rubbing her back. He really hadn't smacked that hard, but the shock of her Daddy actually following through with his threat had overwhelmed her. Tim pulled her back up into his lap and cuddled her quietly singing the 'Barbie song' until she calmed, which wasn't very long. When she'd almost stopped crying, he led her over to the corner and stood her there."You stay here and think about why you got a spanking and when I've packed up your dollies you can tell me."

"Please Daddy, not my dollies. PLEASE!!!" She said starting to cry. Tim turned her to the corner again and started to gently place the dolls in the box. Before he knew though Jess had flown across the room and was trying to get them back out of the box. "Give me back my dollies. Give em back.I want them, their not yours. Their my dollies." When Tim pulled a doll out of her hand and placed it back in the box, she hauled her leg back and kicked him in the shin.

To say that Tim was shocked, was an understatement. Not allowing himself to dwell on his own hurt feelings though he picked her up and sat back on the bed, turning her back over his knee he flipped up her skirt and landed another six smacks to her already pink bottom. He stood her up and she stared at him mutinously. "NO KICKING JESS!" he said very firmly. He marched her back to the corner, waiting a couple of minutes to make sure that she was going to stay there and then he went on collecting the dolls, not quite so gently but not rough enough to damage them. Jess turned her head and glared at Tim but when he saw her foot move he was ready for her.."You really don't want another spanking do you?" She moved her foot slightly towards him. "I'm warning you if you move that foot one more inch I'll smack your bottom." Jess glared and Tim had to try hard not to smile, he could almost see her mind working, thankfully she turned back to the corner and stayed there until Tim was finished with the dolls and went to get her.

Tim took her hand and led her back to the bed. Sitting down he pulled her into his lap. "Now Jess, tell me why you got a spanking."

"Cause I tooked the dress to school and I said bad words and I bit the Sister and that's all the bad stuff I can remember."

"Well I think that you get the general idea. Now you know what happens in this house when your naughty. OK?"  
"Ok. I'm sorry I kicked you."

"I forgive you." Tim said with a kiss to the top of her head. "Now you wait here and I'll get Mommy to come up and fix your bath. I've gotta go and see Dylan."

"Ok."

"Oh and Jess? No fuss tomorrow about the uniform. You have to wear it all day the way you're supposed to with nothing over the top. OK?"

"Ok."

Tim went into Dylan's room next and sat on the bed. Dyl looked like he'd been crying and that worried Tim. Surely he wasn't scared of him. "Come here kiddo." He said. Dylan crawled up and sat on his lap and let Tim cuddle him. "You ok now?"

Dylan nodded. "But something's wrong."Tim said.

"I heard Jess crying. You must have spanked her awful bad."

"I gave her a spanking, but it wasn't that bad. I think she was mostly crying because she was shocked. She really didn't think I'd do it."  
"Oh........so it's not my fault?"

"Of course not! Why would it be your fault?"  
"Because I wanted her to get a spanking, I thought I did but then hearin her cryin, it made me feel bad."  
"None of that has anything to do with you. For a start Dyl, you don't have to worry about me ever hurting you or Jess past a stinging bottom. But as far as Jess getting punished. She made her own choices. That's what got her punished. You didn't have anything to do with it other than letting me see how unfair I'd been. But Dyl, you made your choices too and they weren't good that's why I'm going to spank you.

"I know. I kinda knew it was a risk."

"Good. Come on." Tim laid him over his knee and waisted no time in bringing his hand down hard for the promised ten swats. Go and stand in the corner Dyl for five minutes."

"Yes Dad."

"Tim sat on Dyl's bed and waited for the five minutes to be called him back over to the bed where he was waiting with his arms open. Dyl threw himself into them. He had tears rolling down his cheeks. "Dyl!? What's wrong."

"I don't know.I guess I'm just glad you still wanna be my Dad."

"Always. If you'd have gone to live with Tony and Ziva? I don't think I ever would have gotten over the sadness."

"Really?"

"Really!"

"Dad?"

"Yeh Dyl?"

"When Jess and me aren't grounded anymore, can we all go camping?"

"You mean all of us?"

"Yeh. The whole family. Me, Jess, Sarah, Zac, Mom,You, Tony,Ziva, Ducky, Gibbs and Jimmy and the dogs?"

Tim giggled at the thought of Abby and Sarah and Jess in a tent with no girly things. "You know what Dyl. That would be a lot of fun. I'll ask everyone at work tomorrow. Now you go and have your bath and get your pyjamas on and Mom and I will call you for dinner."

Down in the kitchen Abby had had Sarah an Zac in stitches over Jess's antics. Tim came in just to hear Abby relaying Dyl's message to Jess. "You can't do that shit to Nun's Jess, there like the closest thing to God except for the priest." Zac and Sarah were laughing so hard they were crying.

"Abby." Tim said "I think one of us has to go and bath Jess. Do you wanna do the bath or dinner?"

"I wanna bath Jess. You can either cook something or order, I don't mind."

Tim took Abby's hand and pulled her into the hallway. SMACK!

"Shit! Tim! What was that...........He landed another hard smack on her bottom.

"Stop with the swearing Abby. I mean it. I've just been up there for the last hour spanking kids and standing them in corners and listening to them cry, when one of the things I've spanked them for, they got from you. AND you're still doing it. Now, I mean it this time. I tried to suggest that you don't say it. I've tried glaring at you,Warning you and I've tried explaining it to you. Now, I'm just plain telling you, to knock..... it..... off!!! Clear?"

"Crystal!" she said happily.

"Good." He said kissing her soundly and tapping her bottom. Abby grinned and kissed him back. "Good to have you home Timmy." She said.

Abby went in to Jess's room to find her sitting on her bed quietly. "Hey little one you ok?" Abby said, starting to undo her hair.

Jess nodded but tears came rushing to her eyes and spilled over the top of her long lashes. Abby gathered her up into her lap. "Tell Mommy, what's wrong."

As Jess cried quietly she tried to talk. "Daddy......spa...nk..ed.....me. And.....he.....took......all of my.......dollies."

"OH sweetie. Why do you think he did that?"

"Because I was bad."

"Jess you're not bad. You do naughty things sometimes and you throw tantrums and yeh well you can do very naughty things but inside you are a good princess. But that's what you have to remember, that princesses always TRY to be good but if they don't........"

"I know Daddy told me naughty princesses do get spanked."

"Is Daddy still mad?"

"Nah. Daddy loves you honey."

"Even though I kicked him?"

Abby winced. "You kicked Daddy? Why?!"

"Because he was taking my dollies."

"I bet that didn't end to well huh?"

Jess shook her head. He spanked me again and he still took my dollies."

"Guess it wasn't worth it then huh?"

"Nope!"

"Ok let's get this bath happening, Daddy's ordering us some pizza."

"Yay!"

After dinner when the little ones were in bed asleep the other four sat around the table talking about the kids and the naughty things they'd done. "It's funny how things that seem like the end of the world when they're happening seem hilarious later." Abby said. "What about you Sarah and all your antics."

"What's this?" Zac said tickling her in the I missing something?"

"Oh you're missing a lot!" Abby said on her third glass of enough to make her drunk just talkative if she needed any help in that department.

"ABBBY!!!" Sarah said both horrified and terrified at what she might say next.

"What?!You were a devil child for a while there and you got my ass spanked more than once."

"OMG! Tim can you please stop her." Tim took Abby's wine glass away and swapped it for a can of caf-pow.

"Thankyou Timmy!" she said cheerily. "I was only joking Sarah. If you don't wanna tell Zac about your wayward teenage years that's up to you."

Trying to change the subject, Tim said curiously "Why don't you tell us about you Abby. I'm sure there have to be some naughty girl stories there somewhere. Not the one about super gluing your brothers head. Something else that we haven't heard when you were a little girl that earned you a spanking."

"Mmmm let's see. There was this one time when I was in trouble at school and they called my Mom up for an interview, but...." she turned to Zac for a minute "My parents were deaf. Any way they didn't have an interpreter so they asked me to do ASL for my mother, how smart were they really? Anyway as the principal was saying 'your daughter hasn't been to class for seven days', I was translating, 'we are giving your daughter a special award for being such a conscientious student'. What I didn't take into account was my Mom's excellent lip reading skills, so when my Dad got home that night he tanned my ass. Sorry Timmy he tanned my BOTTOM."

"Good save." Abby."I knew you would have been a naughty little girl." All of a sudden Tim said. "Oh!... I know what I had to tell you, Dylan wants everyone to go on a camping trip together. The whole family. As soon as they're not grounded anymore. What do you think?"

"Who do you mean when you say the whole family ?"Sarah asked.

"I mean everyone who is normally here for lunch on a the dogs."

"WOW"!!! That'd be a really funny trip." Abby said.

"That's what I think too." Tim said.

"Will there be electricity?" Sarah said.

"Oh come on Sar. Live a little it'll be fun."Zac said. "Assuming that I'm invited."

"Of course you're invited. "Abby and Tim said together.

"You can share a tent with Gibbs, Zac."Tim said.

"Yeh." She said sheepishly. "Fun."

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

Princess McGee?! Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The next day went fairly smoothly although she pouted and carried on a little, they were able to get everyone fed and clothed and out the door on time for school and work. Just to make sure, Abby checked Jess backpack for contraband.

"I told you Mommy." Jess said indignantly.

"I know Jess, just checking." She said giving her a kiss and a hug. "Please be good today. Especially to Sister Mary Clarence. I don't think she could take another day like yesterday."

"I will."

"You too Dyl. Be good." Abby said kissing his cheek.

"Mommm! Someone will see."

"Sorry cheeks are just too hard to resist."

When they got out of the elevator, everyone called out their greetings as usual. "Hey guys." Tim said.

"How're the kids?" Tony asked.

"They're....fine....what no name calling today Tony?"

"Na..I have to say I did feel a bit sorry for them yesterday, especially Dyl."

"Tony, Dyl's fine. Actually, he has a request."

"What kind of request?" Tony asked, but Gibbs and Ziva pricked their ears up as well.

"Dyl, would like us all, the whole family, to go on a camping trip." Tim said smiling.

"What a wonderful idea." Ziva said. "It is a very long time since I slept outdoors."

"Yeh, since we've been together. Probie I love Dyl but me and the outdoors......"

"Oh don't be such a big baby Dinozzo, I think it's a great idea." Gibbs said.

"God! Could we at least go to one of those sites where you can plug in to the electricity, and they have bathrooms and....."Tony trailed off.

"That's not even close to camping." Gibbs said discusted. "We need to go whwere there's nothing. We're we cook over an open fire, we fish and hike."

"Yay, fun. Hiking." Abby said . "What I wanna know is how we're gonna keep the drinks cold?"

"Who would go?" Ziva asked.

"Everyone." Tim said. Just then Ducky and Jimmy entered the bullpen."What are we doing?" Ducky asked.

"Going camping Duck."Gibbs said.

"Oh how splendid.I can't remember the last time I went camping. You'll come Mr Palmer, won't you?"

"I'd love to but....it's just."

"For God's sake son, spit it out!" Gibbs said irratably.

"Well I would love to come, but could I bring someone? I was gonna ask if I could bring her to lunch on Sunday."

"Of course you can Jimmy! Both! I mean of course she can come camping and you better bring her to lunch on Sunday. Who is she? Where'd you meet her?"Abby prattled enthusiastically.

"Ooh Jimmy you have been a dark pony."Ziva said.

"Horse Ziva. He's been a dark horse." Tony said.

"I would love to bring her on Sunday Abby. Thankyou." Jimmy said blushing bright red and escaping the room as fast as he could.

"Oh Yeh!" Tony said. New blood to play with. I can see this weeks lunch is gonna be better than usual. "I can just imagine her now. Scholarly little thing with glasses. Timid, awkward.I can't wait."

"Anthony Dinozzo. You won't give that poor girl a hard time in my house." Abby said.

"Ok, I'll just save it for the camping trip." he said childishly.

"Poor Jimmy. It must be serious if he's willing to subject himself and the girl to Anthony's antics." Ducky said.

"Mmm. Work now people. Torment each other on your own time." Gibbs said.

Everytime Tim's phone rang that day he jumped. But after a while he started to relax, realising that nothing big was gonna happen He was in fact over the moon when they got through the entire day with out incident. The next few days went over in a similar fashion, it would be a lie to say there had been no incidents but they had been minor. The usual little ups and downs of family life.

It was Saturday and Abby had been cleaning like her life depended on it. She scrubbed the kitchen and the bathrooms she vacuumed the floors, every time someone walked through the room. Again. In the end Tim lost patience. "Abby. Enough. The house is clean. This Amber, of Jimmy's is just coming to meet the family. She's not coming to do a house inspection."

"Your right! I better wash Jess's hair again. Maybe I should put it in rags. My grammy used to put my hair in rags, it makes these little ringlets. Of couse, it's probably a bit late now. I should have done that this morning if I was gonna do it. It has to stay in for at least twenty four you should take Dyl to get his hair done."

"Are you serious Abby? What exactly do you want me to have done to his hair? An updo? I don't think it's long enough for..... what are they ringlets?"

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you Timmy." She said poking out her tongue. "I just meant a hair cut is know a trim some product."

"He's ten Abby. He doesn't need product. If he uses shampoo I'm grateful."

"Since when did you lower your standards Mr perfect MIT?"

"Since the big stuff became more important to worry about than the small stuff. She is gonna have to take us the way we are. You're beautiful, the kids are all beautiful and the house is lovely and lived in because lot's of people live here. Now relax. Take a breath."

"Maybe you should take the dogs to the pet parlour, Rex doesn't smell that great."

"Last time we took him there he came back with a big red velvet bow."

"I thought it looked very gnarly. The studded collar stopped it from looking too girly."

"He pouted for three days Abby. He wouldn't even look at me when I went to feed him."

"Come on Tim!"

"No! Tell you what. If it'll make you happy I'll go and give him a bath."

"It would."

"Ok. But you have to do something for me."

"Anything Timmy."

"Stop cleaning." He said giving her a big kiss.

The next day was finally Sunday. Dylan was happy. He was still grounded but he'd be allowed to be in the yard with everyone else. He didn't understand what all the fuss was about with Jimmy bringing a dumb girl. But his Mom and Sarah and Ziva sure thought it was important. His Mom had even left her church clothes on after Mass. Usually she couldn't wait to get changed. Although, his Mom's church clothes weren't the same as other people's church clothes, they were then all his Mom's clothes were interesting.

Jess was happy today because she got to wear a pretty dress to church. Her hair was long today because there wasn't any school so she didn't have to have braids. Mommy and Sarah and Ziva were all happy because Jimmy was bringing someone new.

"So Timmy,whadda ya think Jimmy's girl's gonna be like?" Tony asked.

"Smart."

"What about you Boss, whadda you think about Jimmy's girl?"

"Not much. Actually, I'm a bit concerned how much you're thinking about it though."

"Quite right Jethro. Leave poor Mr Palmer alone Anthony, he's nervous enough."

"Well. And would you blame him. I'd keep her away from the littlest McBrat, she eats people."

Tim slapped Tony in the back of the head. ""Did you......did you just head slap me?" Tony said with his mouth open. "Oh it's on now!" He tackled Tim and they both ended up on the grass wrestling around like a pair of kids.

Just at that moment. Jimmy came through the back gate holding his new girlfriends hand. Tim jumped up an wiped his hands on his jeans. Tony was just laying there with his mouth open. Jess's jaw had hit the ground. She tugged on Abby's skirt. "Mommy, Mommy she said pointing.....Jimmy's girlfriend is BARBIE!" Abby's eyes darted up to wear Jess was pointing. She was gonna kill Tony.

Standing before them with a big friendly smile, holding Jimmy's hand was Jess was pretty spot on, she looked like a Barbie doll. Long blond hair. Big blue eyes. Curves in all the right places. She was poured into a pair of skinny leg jeans and her midriff top covered the essentials and not much more. Jimmy was beaming. No one was surprised.

"Hi I'm Amber." She said sweetly. You know, if Barbie could talk, I bet she'd talk just like that, Abby thought.

"Hi I'm Abby and this is my husband Timmy." She elbowed Tim in the ribs. "Say hello she hissed."

"Oh, sorry.....H...Hi. My name is Tim."

"She got that bit TIM, when I introduced you as MY HUSBAND."

"Of course. Sorry."

"I'm sure you will be Timmy."

Abby continued to introduce her to everyone even Tony who had also recovered and put his tongue back in his head, with the help of a hefty head slap from Ziva of course. Dylan politely shook her hand and said "Hi."

"Hi to meet you."

Jess said absolutely nothing for a long while. She followed Abby hanging on to her skirt, her eyes wide in wonder,never leaving Amber's face. When all the introductions,bar one, had been made Abby grabbed Jess's hand and gently pulled her out in front of her. "This is Jess." Our daughter,Abby said.

Amber bent down to Jess's level "Hello little one. Nice to meet you."

Abby gave Jess a little push and said. "Say hi Jess. Amber spoke to you."

"Hi." Jess said. "Are you one of Barbie's friends?" she asked smiling. "I thought you WERE Barbie but you can't be if your names Amber. But you look just like Barbie and you have the same clothes as Barbie too." she said a very uncharacteristic move Gibbs spat his beer all over himself and Ducky chuckled. "Quite frankly Jethro, I couldn't agree with the child more."

"Me neither Duck." he said smiling as he wiped himself up with a napkin. "Oh this is gonna be a camping trip and a half."

"Wanna see my room?" Jess said enthusiastically, grabbing Amber's hand.

"I'd love to." she said, allowing herself to be towed away.

"Your girlfriend seems nice Jimmy." Tim said.

"And MAN is she built!" Tony said.

"REALLY!?" Ziva said.

"What's 'BUILT' mean?" Dylan asked.

Tim put his arm around him and pointed him towards his mother. "That doesn't matter but see that look, it means that if we don't stop talking about it real soon we're all gonna catch it. Come on let's play ball. Playin Jimmy?"

"Jimmy looked upstairs nervously."

"It's alright Jimmy."Tony said. "She doesn't bite!.....Oh wait! Yes she does!" he said grimacing.

"Maybe I should........."

Abby tapped him on the shoulder. "Are you going to tell me that your scared for your girlfriend to be left alone with my six year old daughter?"

"No Abby. No.....I just."

"I'm just messing with you Jimmy. She'll be fine. She obviously likes her. Jess only bites people when she's mad at them."

"Oh ok.

Go and play with the boys. She'll be fine."

Abby sat back down with Sarah and Ziva. Zack got up and went to join the sat down with the girls as Gibbs had gone to play too.

"So! What does everyone think."Abby said.

"She seems really nice." Sarah said. "She is beautiful, but we can't really blame her for that."

"I have nothing against her." Ziva said. "Tony though is another matter."

"And Tim."

"And Zac."

"Well." Ducky started to say but just smiled.

"Why do they do that Ducky?" Abby said.

"Do what my dear?"

"Go all stupid when there's a pretty girl around."

"OH!" Ducky said "Well that's fairly easy. There's only so much blood in the human body. All major organs need it to function. Unfortunately, when there's a pretty girl in the midst, the blood is not pumping to the thinking organ."

The girls all burst into loud raucous laughter. The boys stopped bouncing the ball to look. Shaking there heads they went back to their game.

After a while Amber came back down stairs holding Jess hand. She sat down with under the patio and said to Abby. "Do you mind if I help myself to a drink?"

"No of course not. I'm sorry, I don't know where my manners are I should have got you one. Come on we'll go and find you one."

They all decided to get a drink and they headed in to the kitchen. Abby took orders and handed out beers and soft drinks and wine. Amber took her glass of wine that Abby poured in the hand that wasn't attached to Jess. "Thanks Abby." She said.

"Jess sweetie, why don't you let go of Amber's hand now. She might like to hold her glass with two hands."

"Don't wanna."

Not wanting to make a scene Abby said. "How about a drink Jess? Would you like a drink?"

"Yes please. I wanna have what Amber's havin." Everyone laughed.

"Amber's drink is only for grown ups honey." Abby said.

"Where the same. She has long hair like I wanna drink what she's got."

"How about, I get you some apple juice." Ziva said."Then it will almost be the same."

"But it won't be the same."

"Look, it's ok, how about I just have apple juice too and then we'll be having the same." Amber said, trying to help.

Jess smiled. Victory."Ok."

Abby spun her around to face her and got down to her level. "No Jess. Not ok. Amber is allowed to have what she chose, she's an adult. You're not. She will have her wine and you will have juice, water or milk. Which will it be?"

"Nothing."

"Your choice." Abby said. Turning around, but not missing the tongue pointed at her back. She smacked Jess's bottom hard. "I saw that." Jess turned on her heel and stomped outside.

Going over to where the boys were playing, she grabbed Tim's T shirt. Tears rolling down her face, she said sadly. "I'm thirsty Daddy and Mommy won't let me have a drink."

Knowing that Abby was a food and drink pusher by nature, Tim knew this wasn't the case. He took a big breath.

"I'm sorry honey but I don't believe you."

"But she smacked me."

"Then she must have had a good reason."

"Can't you get me a drink?"

"What did Mommy say? Tell the truth."

"She wouldn't let me have the same drink as Amber has." she pouted, folding her arms. "She said I had to have juice or water or milk."

"Which do you like the best out of all those."

"None! If I can't have what Amber's havin then I don't wanna have anything!" "Then your not too thirsty are you?" Dylan said getting frustrated that she was ruining their game."

"You shutup Dylan!" she said pulling her arm back ready to punch him.

Tim grabbed her arm mid flight and smacked her bottom. "You do that and I'll take you upstairs and give you a spanking. Do you hear me?"

"I hear you." She said crossing her arms and stomping got a shock though when she found herself lifted off the ground and deposited into a corner.

"You can stay there for five minutes until you can speak nicely."

After her five minutes were up Tony said to Tim, "Can I go?"

"Yeh don't let her talk you into giving he a glass of wine."

"As if!" Tony said. "The most I'd give her is a sip of my beer. Only joking Probie."

Tony walked up and took Jess's hand, making sure not to take his eyes off her mouth. Or her feet.  
"Hey Jess."

"Hi Tony." She said. "Are you sad?" he said making a puppy dog face.  
"No. I don't have anyone to play with now, Amber's inside playing with Mommy and Sarah and Ziva and Ducky. Daddy's playing with Zac and Jimmy and Dylan and gibbs and I got nobody."

"How about me? Will I do?"

" you want to play?"

"I don't know. Catch?" Tony said hopefully.

"Na. I know I'll get a game from my room." She said happily running inside. Tony waited about five minutes until Jess reappeared carry a bunch of stuff from her room."

"Oh Jess I don't know...." Tony said.

"You promised. You said you play with me." As he looked into those eyes he knew he'd been beaten. And he knew how the probie had ended up singing and dancing with Barbie dolls.

Ziva nudged Abby who motioned to the others and they all scrambled over to the patio doors. There was Tony large as life wearing a hat with a flower, playing tea parties with Jess.

"It'll be so much more fun next time Tony when my Daddy gives me my dollies back."

"I can see that Jess. A tea party is fun. But we do really need to have some dollies to invite." Tony said with an English accent. "Now how many sugars my dear? One lump or two."

"Two please." Jess said trying to copy his accent.

Chatting over lunch, the girls found that they actually really liked Amber. She was a Med student like Jimmy and she was a nice person with a great sense of humour. "So what do you girls really think about this camping trip?" she said eyes twinkling.

"I think it's gonna suck for me." Sarah said. "No electricity, apparently though they're going to do us a favour and dig TWO bathrooms, so that we have our I should be grateful and Zac and I have to sleep in separate tents." Everyone looked. Ducky got up to leave taking a packet of cookies with him.

"You know, I think I'll join Anthony's tea party." He said.

"So." Abby said giving Sarah a pointed stare. "You not being able to share a tent with Zac, has that become......like a big problem that wouldn't have been there the last time we talked?"

"God No Abby! Just because that's all you AND Tim think about, God! Even if I was going to do 'it' do you really think I'd be able to do 'it' with nothing but a few layers of canvas between me and my brother? Shit!" she said immediately covering her mouth with her hand. "Sorry."

"It's not me you have to worry about it's the cussing police." Everybody stopped talking and looked behind Abby. Amber looked curious. "He's right behind me isn't he."

"Be careful." He said. Kissing her and heading to the fridge for some beers. "Have fun ladies." he said, disappearing outside again.

"Ok." Amber said when they were sure he'd gone outside. "I had an idea. I thought that if we check out the location where we're gonna camp, we could book a room at a motel or something nearby. We wouldn't be able to sleep there or anything but we could sure as hell have a lay down on a soft bed and have a shower."

"Watch TV." Sarah said

"Plug into the internet and buy more caf-pow and junk food." Abby said.

"Charge our Ipods." Ziva said.

"Oh you're brilliant!" Abby said giving Amber a hug. "But how will we get to the motel room without attracting attention?"

"I already convinced Jimmy that I loved to ride bikes. We hire bikes. They won't pick anywhere that's too rocky or steep because we have little kids with us."

"I love 's a fool proof plan."

"Yep. The others all agreed."

"I think this camping trip might be fun after all." Sarah said smiling.

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

Thankyou for all your reviews and alerts. I appreciate your opinions. A lot. If anyone has any constructive critisism about my spelling or language, I'll gladly listen to your opinion. However, this is a discipline fic. I have a warning on the summary so if it's not what you like to read then I suggest that you read one of the other wonderful stories that are available on this site. This is a fictional story. So for those of you who are enjoying my story I hope you like this chapter. For the others, flame if you must but I will just delete you every time so it's pointless.. Sorry for the rant :)

Chapter 9

After another school and work week that was pretty uneventful, preparations were fully underway for the big camping trip. With the area where they were to camp mapped out by Tim and Gibbs, the girls were able to find a small cabin nearby that had a log fire and a Jacuzzi. They booked on line and paid with Ziva's credit card.

Amber had been in Jimmy's ear about bike riding so he suggested it to Tim who thought that it was a great idea. They were able to rent four bikes at a shop near the park where they were camping. This wasn't enough for them to be able to all ride at once but Tim's thinking was that it wasn't likely that they'd all want to ride at the same time anyway.

Zac and Sarah were driving in Zac's car and they didn't have anyone in the back seat so they were loaded up with food and extra cases of drinks, not to mention Sarah's many bags of clothes (and hidden appliances).She was careful when packing these that she put them in the car herself not wanting to risk Zac suspecting anything.

Abby also packed her own bags. Just for the fun of it she'd thrown in a couple of bottles of vodka. She figured that they wouldn't be able to take the kids to the cabin anyway and no one was driving, so it was the perfect opportunity for them to have a couple of relaxing drinks while they had some fun in their room. After all, what good was a soak in a jacuzzi without drinks. They were an absolute necessity. Of course she hadn't quite figured out how she was gonna get the vodka and redbull up to the cabin but they'd figure something out, right?

Tim was very excited. He couldn't wait to pass on his boy scout skills to his kids especially Dylan who was as excited as he was. Jess not so much. She was happy that Barbie's friend Amber was coming and had even earned a couple of smacks for cutting up one of her T shirts to make an 'Amber shirt'.One that left a fair amount of her tummy exposed. Tim had thrown that in the trash quick smart. Abby struggled so much to pack the kind of clothes that the little girl would need on a camping weekend. Jess kept putting dresses and mary janes in the even put a pair of ballet flats in the bag. Only to have them removed again by her Mommy. Jess was thinking that she wasn't gonna like this place they were going to at all. What kind of place was it that you could only wear clothes that were clunky looking shoes.

Dylan's enthusiasm made up for Jess's lack of enthusiasm though. He had hardly been able to sleep with the excitement last night, and as if things could get any better, TOBY was coming too. He had hung around with a hang dog expression so much while Tim and Dylan had been getting things ready that in the end, Tim couldn't take it any more and had gone and asked his folks if they could take him. Rex and Lulu had no idea what was going on but they were beyond excited when they were put in the car.

Tony tried, but he really hadn't been looking forward that much to this trip either. Except that the Mcbrats were bound to offer some kind of entertainment. And he was gonna get to sleep in a sleeping bag with his beautiful wife, that was something. But the whole outdoors thing didn't really thrill him. Still he supposed it would be fun to be all together.

So they all started off packing at their own houses, meeting up at the McGee house so that they could all travel together. After stopping to collect the bikes and put them in the trailer that Jimmy had brought with him, they arrived at the state park. They had to park the cars a fair way from where they would be camping and lug the stuff from the cars to their actual camp. By the time they got there, several of the campers already weren't happy. The princess was one of them.

"I'm tired Daddy. Can't you carry me?"

"Sorry honey, Daddy has to carry the tents."

"Mommy can't you carry me?"

"Sorry sweetie. Mommy has all these other things to carry."

"I'm thirsty."

"There's a drink in your back pack."

"Ok. Now I'm hungry."

"Mommy packed a granola bar in your back pack."

"I don't like granola bars."

"There's an apple."

"Don't wanna have an apple. I wanna have a cookie."

"Jess, stop complaining." Tim said sternly.

"Ok Daddy.........Are we there yet?"

"Almost."

Thankfully they were almost there. Once they got to a nice spot that wasn't too close to the water but not too far away either, they stopped. While Abby and Sarah fixed the kids up with some juice and sandwiches. The others went back to the cars for the last load of stuff. Abby took the opportunity to hide her stash in the bushes. Shoeing Rex away at thye same time lest he give away her secret. It should've been safe in her back pack but she didn't know if Tim might go looking in there for something he might need for one of the kids. When they got back with the last load, they would have liked to have lunch but Gibbs insisted on putting up the tents first.

They had one family tent, and four smaller tents to set up. This really didn't take very long. Not everyone was happy with the sleeping arrangements though. Abby and Tim had their tent, Ziva and Tony had a tent, Jimmy and Amber had their own tent. Sarah and Jess were going to share a tent and last but certainly not least, the family tent would be shared by Gibbs, Ducky,Dylan,Zac and Toby, Rex and Lulu.

"I wanna sleep in there with Amber." Jess said hands on hips. Jimmy really wasn't one for confrontation with anyone, let alone a pissed off six year old.

"Well Jess.......there's really only enough room for two people in our tent. And we only have the one sleeping bag to share." Jimmy said hoping that his explanation would be enough.

Jess narrowed her eyes Abby fashion. "Are you two married?" she asked.

"Ah...not.....exactly......we're...."

"Huh? Are you married or not?"

"No. We're not married."

"Well then shouldn't you outta be over there in the boys tent?"

"Well I ......you......see....Amber and I ... we want. I want to sleep in here with Amber."

"So...do....I" Jess said determined. "We're the same and we're both girls, you're not a girl." Gibbs rolled his eyes and came over to Jess.

"You're sleeping with Sarah. Get your back pack and put it in that tent over there."

"But I wa....." Gibbs held his hand up.

"Now Jessica."

"Yes Gibbs." He smiled. Gibbs pulled Jimmy away from where Amber could hear him. "Palmer you have to learn to say no. You don't have to explain yourself to a six year old. You'll just confuse her and yourself."

"Right. Thanks sir." Jimmy said nodding.

Tony was grumbling and trying to blow up an air mattress with his mouth, the pump wouldn't work. Sarah was in her tent trying to jam her hair dryer and Ipod and charger and her small laptop into her backpack while she had a small amount of privacy. She knew that would end once Jess arrived. Finally she had it all jammed in there with a sweater over the top to hold it. Just as she finished Zac came in and put his arms around her. "What are you up to?" he said.

"Ah nothing. Just unpacking."she said turning in his arms and distracting him with a kiss.

"Ok then." he said kissing her some more but they were soon interupted by Jess.

"Ew, you too are kissing. You're in love....she sing songed."

"Get out Jess."Sarah said.

"Can't. Gibbs told me to come in here with my bag."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Come on Zac said grinning and grabbing her hand "We should be helping with lunch or something anyway."

While Jimmy had been outside having a debate with Jess, Amber had been inside the tent doing the same thing as Sarah. Jamming all her essentials into a backpack and covering them with a sweater.

Abby hadn't done hers yet. Except for the vodka that she had stashed in the bushes. When she saw Jess going into her tent where Sarah was, and Tim fixing up Dylan and Toby, she took the opportunity to quickly get some cans of rebull out and stuff them in her back pack. Luckily, their tent wasn't too far away from Ziva and Tony's so she ducked in there to see if Ziva had some room for some cans in her bag. They did the same to her bag stuffing a bunch of cans down the bottom and covering the cans with a sweater.

Abby's next job was to work on her daughter. "Hey Jess."

"Hi Mommy."

"Are you having fun?"

"Yeh. I guess."

"I bet Daddy and the boys go fishing after lunch."

" smell."

'Shit' Abby signed with her fingers.

"Oh well, I'm surprised to hear you say that."  
"Why?"

"I thought you'd love to go anywhere your Daddy went." That'll do it, Abby thought.

"Na. Not fishin. Fish stink."

'Fu....k' Abby signed with her fingers. What the hell was she gonna do now?

"You shouldn't have outta say those words on your fingers Mommy. Daddy would be mad."

Abby's mouth dropped open. She had no idea that Sarah could sign. She would never say that word in front of her she thought that she wouldn't understand."How did you know what I said? Can you sign?"

Jess put her head down. "Only some bad words."

"Who taught you that?"

"A boy in one of the foster homes I was in."

"Well I don't want you to use them Ok? Mummy shouldn't have done that."

Ok, this is a dilemma, Abby thought. Do I tell my child to lie to her Daddy? No that wasn't an option. She'd just have to hope it didn't come up. Back to talking Jess into fishing.

"Oh well. Your probably right about the fishing, they more than likely wouldn't let you go anyway. You being a girl and all. It'd probably be too hard for you."

"It would not! I can do it if Dylan and Toby can do it."

"Well maybe. Not if Daddy doesn't let you go."

"He will.I wanna go with Daddy."

After everything was set up, and they'd had lunch, the boys got ready to go fishing. "Daddy can I come?" Jess asked?

"Of course you can sweetie. I have a special fishing pole just for you."

"You have to put your own live worm on the hook Jess." Dylan said, waving a worm in front of her face.

"Ew. That's awful."

"Don't worry, Daddy'll do yours." Tim said glaring at Dyl.

It took them a while but with all the men and boys and dogs off on there fishing trip with Jess, the girls decided to make a start. Abby retrieved her bottles of vodka and they strapped on their packs and pinned a note to the family tent.

"Have just gone for a long bike ride, we won't be back late." Then off they went.

Arriving at the cabins, they registered and after retrieving their key they went and let themselves into their cabin. It was great! There was only one huge bed but they wouldn't be sleeping there anyway so that didn't matter. The Jacuzzi was plenty big enough for the four of them. Abby waisted no time finding four large glasses and filling three of them with redbull and vodka and one with just redbull.

The others were either already in the Jacuzzi or getting changed. Abby had her bikini underneath her clothes so she only had to strip off and climb in. After passing out the drinks she did exactly that. They were all exhausted after all the exercise they had had that day already and it felt wonderful to sink into the hot bubbles and let the tensions run away. Abby and Ziva recounted the funny story about New York and Abby killing her credit card to Amber who thought it was hilarious. As they laughed and joked, Sarah tried to join in but she felt a bit out of place. Just a step behind the others. She didn't like it.

Abby, Ziva and Amber were feeling decidedly mellow. "Fresh drinks anyone?" Sarah asked helpfully.

"Yes please Sarah, you're a good girl." In hindsight, but then Abby found that most things made more sense in hindsight, it probably wasn't too responsible of them to let Sarah pour the drinks for a few reasons, which were pointed out to Abby later! She pobably wouldn't have let her pour them at all in her normal state of mind but the calming drink she had already had clouded her instincts somewhat.

So Sarah was pouring the drinks and when she got to hers, she thought 'maybe if I just have one drink I'll be able to join in more.' The trouble was that Sarah wasn't really very experienced, well actually she had never even had or poured a spirit drink before. If kids snuck drinks it was generally beer. So when she did pour the drinks she was rather generous with the vodka. Including hers. She passed out the drinks and climbed back into the Jaccuzzi her self. Being vodka, there wasn't any taste so it took a while before they realised that the drinks were a bit strong, nobody noticed that Sarah was now drinking the same as them.

Back on the fishing expedition, things were heating up. Tony, while casting his line had managed to get his hook caught in Zac's hair and was trying to get it out. Tim hadn't really put a line in yet. His full time job seemed to be going from one child to the next baiting hooks and untangling lines. By the time he'd fixed up the last one the first one was in trouble again. None of them would leave the lines in the water for longer than ten minutes. As soon as there was a ripple in the water they reeled it in with screeches of "I've got one, I've got one!" only to find nothing on their hook at all. Not even the bait. Thankfully this eased off a bit when Jess gave the dogs continued running up and down barking at everyone.

Gibbs and Ducky were getting slightly frustrated at the noise. They were never going to catch anything at this rate. Jess was already bored and whining. When she'd given up on fishing she decided that Ducky might amuse was now down pulling on Ducky's long rubber pants trying to get him to tell her a story. Tim hadn't seen her get away from him.

"Miss Jess, I would love to tell you a story later my dear but you need to go back before you fall in. I have these special pants on you see? This is not very safe here for a little girl."

"Ok." Jess said trying to go back but bumping Ducky accidently as she went. On even ground that wouldn't have made a difference, she was only a little girl, but as Ducky had one foot perched on a rock, he toppled over into the cold stream. Everyone turned to see what had made the big Jess looked on in horror she signed a word with her fingers that would often be used in such a situation but not usually signed by a six year old girl.

Tim and Gibbs looked at each other intently. Tim's look was a question and Gibbs was accompanied by the answer "Yep."

"Three guesses where she got that from." Tim said as they all scrambled to get Ducky out of the water. Ducky was completely unharmed, just very wet and cold, so they decided to go back to camp and light a fire so that Ducky could get changed and warm up and Tony could finally cut the hook out of Zac's hair. When they got back and found the note pinned to the tent, they were a bit worried. The girls hadn't said which direction they were going in but they did say they wouldn't be late so hopefully they should be back soon.

Back at the cabin the party was hotting up. Sarah was in the full swing of things now and suggested that they sing a song, so the walls were reverberating to their dulcet tones of 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun'. By now, Sarah was on her second strong drink and the others were on their third, and they were big glasses. When Abby got up to go to the bathroom she looked out the window. "OHhh Shit! UMmm, we may hass a problem. I shthink it's dark."

"What time is it?" Ziva asked.

"I don't know...." Abby said trying to find her watch. "It's seven oc' better gobach."

"Yeh we should." The others agreed struggling to get their clothes on and fill their packs. Abby looked at Sarah through bleary eyes. "Sar hab you been drinkin the vokka?"

"Sarah showed her two fingers pinched together. "Jist bit."she said drunkenly.

"F.....k! Shit!...I have to memeber to not say that. Nough trouble now." Abby said. They did look comical as they drunkenly mounted the bikes, Sarah falling off more than once. God only knows how they got across the road. It took them a long while to make their way back down the trail to the camp.

Leaving Ducky at the campfire telling the kids some stories, the others who were by now really worried, were searching for the girls. "I can't believe, they would stay away this long unless something's happened to them." Jimmy said, getting distressed now. Tim and Tony looked at each other and then at Gibbs.

"I could."Tony said. "Something around here stinks and it's not the fish we didn't catch."

"Yep." Is all that Gibbs said. Tim sighed and nodded. He didn't know what Abby was up to but he knew it was something she shouldn't be doing. When he was finished with her she was gonna wish she had Dinozzo's soft air bed to sleep on.

The boys decided to go back and check that they hadn't returned to camp and they hadn't been there long when they heard giggling coming from a fair way off. Then ouches and more giggling. Looking at each other and then racing towards the direction the noises were coming from Tim stood with his hands on his hips as Abby fell off her bike for about the sixth time and landed at his feet. "Shorry Tinny."she said.

"Your drunk!" he said shocked as Sarah rode her bike directly into Abby and toppled over the top of her. "Shorry Absh." She said.

"Sarah! Abigail, you were out drinking with my seventeen year old sister?" Tim said shocked.

"Ziva! You were holding out on me?"Tony said disgusted.

"Amber?" Jimmy said as Amber climbed off her bike and stumbled towards him. "I'm not ash drunnk ash them Jemmy.I only felt off one time."she said holding up a finger.

Gibbs shook his head and grinned. "Can't wait to hear the rest of this story." He said.

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

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Chapter 10

"Abigail McGee! How could you! Your children are just over there waiting to have s'mores with you by the camp fire. If I thought there was any chance of you feeling it I'd put you over my knee right now!"  
"Sorry Tim..........."Abby vomited all down the front of McGee's shirt. Thankfully his jacket, the only one he brought, was open.

"Abbby....." he whined. "A bit of warning.....Geez, what did you four drink?"

"And you Miss......." he started to say to Sarah, but Zac put his hand on his arm." I've got her. You look like you've got your hands full with Abby."

"You have no idea!" Tim said sarcastically.

"I think I have some idea." Gibbs said smirking. "I'm just glad she's mostly your problem now 'Timmy'."

"Amber?" Jimmy said. "I've never seen you like this."

"Whah?" she said drunkenly with a hiccup and a giggle.

"She's not lookin too much like a Barbie doll now? Is she Palmer." Gibbs said quite enjoying this show. Jimmy just looked at him dumbfounded.

"How about I go and distract the kids for a little while and it'll give you lot a chance to hide your women in the tents so they don't see the the state they're in. When they're asleep we'll tell ghost stories and eat s'mores with the kids. That's just as much fun as cuddling up to your wives in a double sleeping bag isn't it?" Gibbs said as he walked away chuckling. He had made himself laugh again.

Tony checked Ziva out for weapons and when he determined that she was clean he slung her over his shoulder and carried her to their tent. As he dumped her down on the inflatable mattress, the little button on the air seal popped off and all the air hissed out. He said that word that Jess had signed earlier in the day angrily, except that he didn't bother to use his fingers. Lying on the ground he huffed and puffed and blew until he got at least some air back into the mattress again. Not an easy feat with Ziva snoring away, her dead weight spread across the entire mattress. Tony sighed. Maybe tomorrow night, he thought sadly. He got up and went to join the others at the fire.

Tim lowered Abby on to the ground and stripped off his shirt, throwing it into the corner to be dealt with in a minute. Stripping off Abby's clothes, he changed her into a pair of sweatpants and an MIT t-shirt and cleaned her as best he could with some baby wipes. He folded over the sleeping bag and zipped it up. Kissing her on the head he got up to leave. "You might be really cute, but ohhhh you are in sooo much trouble." He said to her unconscious form. He lightly smacked the lump in the sleeping bag before he got up to leave, gathering all the messed clothes as he went. He took them straight down to the stream and rinsed them out. It wasn't an ideal solution but when they'd decided to camp not in a proper camping ground, none of them were imagining a bunch of drunken women to contend with. Or their mess.

Zac carried Sarah into her tent and he was amazed that SHE hadn't thrown up yet. He couldn't believe that she'd done this. With Abby no less. He didn't think that Abby would condone her drinking. I guess they'd have to wait until tomorrow to see what happened when they'd all had chance to sober up. He tucked her into her single sleeping bag and kissed her lightly sneaking back out to the fire.

Jimmy sat Amber on the floor of the tent. She wasn't exactly out to it like the others but she wasn't making any sense either. Helping her to take off her clothes Jimmy pulled a t-shirt over her head and then after removing her denim shorts he pulled some sweatpants up over her thong. He couldn't help but look wistfully at said thong as he covered it with the sweatpants. He sighed deeply. This was not how he imagined this weekend going. He turned her over in the double sleeping bag a zipped it up. With one last longing look he backed out of the tent and he went towards the fire.

As the last of them were seated Tim made a suggestion. "How about a sing a long. We could sing..........."

Before he could make his song suggestion Tony leaned over and said menacingly. "Just warnin ya McFlanders, I'm on the edge. If you so much as sing one verse of 'Michael Row Your Boat Ashore' or 'Kumbaya', I will not be responsible for what I do."

"Can you sing the Barbie song Daddy?" Jess said.

"A fine request, never get sick of hearing you sing that song. Can we have the dance too McDaddy?" Tony said sarcastically. As he looked at Tim's stony face he said "Please please pretty please?

"See Daddy Tony likes it."

"One one chorus. Ok? And Tony has to sing it too."

"Of course. Tony won't mind. It's his favourite. Isn't it Tony?" Jess said innocently.

"Backfire much Dinozzo?" Gibbs said. "Zac does that phone of your take those video thingy's? Take a picture for the girls will ya?"

Tony glared at Tim and they both started singing the Barbie song. Toby's mouth dropped open. "Oh Brother!" Dylan said embarrassed.

Next Jess got up and did a lovely version of 'Itsy Bitsy Spider',complete with actions followed by Toby and Dylan who told way too many knock knock jokes. Most of them Tim was sure they'd made up themselves. They weren't that funny, but the adults all pretended to laugh dutifully. Gibbs surprised everyone by playing 'The Star Spangled Banner' on a comb covered with paper. And finally Ducky told a story, after which everyone was ready for bed.

The next morning there were some very sore heads, which Gibbs decided to help along by playing the bugle at the crack of dawn. It made his day to think of the four women staggering around like death warmed up. Abby was the only one game enough to call him on it though. Stomping out of her tent and hissing "For God's sake Gibbs, what's with the off key trumpet? Sick people are trying to sleep here."

"Sorry Abs! Did I wake you? I knew you'd be eager to face your irate husband this morning so I thought I'd help you out with an early morning wake up call." He said with a big grin.

"Thanks a lot Gibbs." She said giving him a sign behind his back that wasn't a sign of peace.

He leaned down and said in her ear. "I saw that. Careful, Tim might consider that to be swearing."

"Oh Tim. Was he mad?"

"Ya think Abs. You only snuck off to god knows where, got drunk, got his sister drunk, road a bike while drunk, forgot about your children apparently and threw up on his shirt. He had to give you a bath with baby wipes and wash yours and his clothes in the stream. All in all Abs yep I'd say he was pissed. With good reason."

Thinking quickly Abby went to find the girls. Maybe they could get away to the cabin again. "Oh Abs?" said a voice behind her. "Going somewhere?"

"Morning Timmy!" Abby said trying to sound chirpy. "I can explain."

"You know what.....I seriously doubt it. But I'm sure it'll be interesting to hear what you come up with."

"I think it'd be better if you all explain together. Come on let's see about breakfast first."

Gibbs already had a pot of coffee on the fire. When he saw Abby getting a can of Red bull out of the cooler he took it off her and threw it back, handing her a mug of coffee instead. Abby was wishing she had some magic hangover cure. She took the Advil that Tim was offering gratefully though in it's absence. She almost threw up again at the plate of bacon and eggs that came next though, but Tim insisted that it would make her feel better if she tried it. So she did eat a little bit of bacon and a nibble of toast and was surprised that she actually did start to feel better. Tony and Ziva staggered out of the tent next. Tony was actually looking worse than Ziva. Apparently he had spent most of the night blowing up the air mattress that was leaking.

"Morning Tony, Ziva." Tim said happily. "Not feeling too good?"

"Shut up McGee! Ziva said grumpily. "Your smile is making my eyes hurt."

Tony just glared at first. Then helped himself to some coffee while putting the kettle on to make some tea for grimaced and then added about four sugars and some milk, hoping to mellow the taste just a tad.

Dylan and Toby then came running into camp followed by the dogs who jumped happily all over Abby, more than pleased to share the remnants of her breakfast. Jess came out of her tent dressed in the Snow White dressthat had finally been given back to her the night before they left. Abby looked at it and honestly didn't have the strength to even ask how she'd snuck it back into the bag again. "Mommy!" she said running into Abby's arms. "I couldn't find you." Abby felt sick. She pulled Jess into a big hug and tried not to cry. She looked at Tim. He knew that she felt terrible but that wasn't gonna save her from a serious butt warming. She really didn't care. She deserved it. They hadn't meant to stay away for more than a couple of hours but there was no excuse for what she did. And then there was a vague memory of Sarah.....Oh God Sarah had been drunk too. Abby stood Jess down. "I'm sorry sweetie Mommy got really tired after riding the bikes and I fell asleep. Would you like some breakfast? You can have some of your favourite cereal."

"Yes please Mommy."

"I'll get it." Tim said squeezing Abby's shoulder gently. Next to wander out of their tent was Sarah. She was soon joined by Zac from the family tent who took Sarah's hand and kissed her forehead. Tim did the rounds with the Advil again fixing Sarah with his eyes.

"I know Tim. I stuffed up. I know I'm in trouble. No need to do the whole death stare thing." Sarah said grumpily. Zac tapped her on the bottom.

"Hey! Attitude." He said. "I think you're in enough trouble don't you?" Sarah sighed and went and sat next followed.

Last but not least was Amber and Jimmy. Jimmy looked not happy and Amber looked like, well nothing like she usually did. Her hair was dull and matted. Her face was as white as a sheet, she had big dark circles and her nose was as red as her bloodshot eyes. Tim looked at her and couldn't decide if that was from the hang over or if she'd been crying. Jess went and stood in front of them. Then she shouted at Jimmy. "What did you do to Amber. I think you broke her."

"I didn't do anything. She just doesn't feel well."

"Why?"

"She just doesn't." Jimmy said.

"Did he do something to you?" Jess said now to Amber.

"No sweetie." She looked at Jimmy who wasn't looking too pleased.

"Want me to fix your hair?"

"Maybe later sweetheart. I'm just going to have some coffee first." she said sitting down gingerly holding her head.

"How about a walk after your breakfast, Miss Jess?" Ducky asked.

"Can we look for some birds nests?"

"Yes I think that can be arranged. I remember when I was a lad....." Ducky trailed off as he went back to his tent.

After breakfast was over, Ducky took Jess on the promised walk and Gibbs took the boys for a bike ride to give the couples some time to talk.

When they had gone Tony started first. "Where were you women yesterday after noon while we were fishing?"

"Is this an interrogation Tony?"

"Ah......yes it IS Zi-va?"

"And since when do you interrogate your own wife?"

"Since I spent all day trying to untangle a fishing hook out of Zac's hair while listening to the Mcbrat's and friend complaining and whining. I got wet while trying to help Ducky out of the stream after Princess McBrat pushed him in and I came back here to drink more of Gibbs coffee, if you could call it drinking. It 's so strong that you could almost eat it with a spoon, and out here it has that extra flavour of being boiled over an open flame. While you my love were off somewhere having a party. A party to which I, your husband was not invited. So! Where....were......you....women....yesterday....afternoon....while....we....were....fishing?"

"Well,if you are going to get huffy."

"Huffy, Zi-va, doesn't even begin to cover it."

"Abby? Would you like to answer the question?"Tim asked.

"Not really." She said in her best smartass tone.

Sarah giggled. "Seeing as how you think it's so funny, you wanna have a go?"he asked Sarah next.

She shook her head.

Jimmy spoke next. "Amber can tell where they were. It was her idea."

Amber looked at Jimmy with tears in her eyes. "Go ahead." He said.

All eyes were on Amber. The girls eyes all held sympathy for their new friend. Tim's eyes held curiosity and Tony's held shock as he looked from Amber to Jimmy and back again. Zac's eyes held amusement. For all even though he was mature for his age, he was still young and he could see the funny side of this. This had to be the strangest camping trip he had ever been on.

Amber looked back at everyone and the girls nodded. This was her cue to tell all of it. The jig was up so they may as well fess up and get it over with.

"Last week at lunch we were talking about the trip and I thought it would be kind of fun,....if we rented some kind of accomodation."

"You women have a room? With a bed? And hair dryers?"

"And a Jacuzzi." Amber said wincing.

"And a Jacuzzi?" Tony said looking as though he really might cry.

"And copious amounts of alcohol obviously." Tim said frowning at Abby and then Sarah.

"So we booked the room on line, well Abby and Ziva did." Amber continued.

"Using who's credit card?" Tim asked.

"Ziva's". Abby answered.  
"Ziva's!?" Tony asked in shock.

"I'll reimburse her Mr Scrooge!" Abby said.

"Anyway we had to figure out how we were gonna get there so I talked Jimmy into the bikes.'

"Which is why you talked me into the bikes." Tim said to Jimmy.

"I didn't know Tim, I swear."he said glaring at Amber.

"I know Jimmy."

"So tell me how Sarah came to be drunk?" Tim asked Abby.

"I didn't give it to her, but I did let her pour the rest of us drinks which probably wasn't that smart." Abby said honestly.

"Ya think Abby?"

"And you Miss. Did Abby give you permission to pour your self an alcoholic drink?"

"No Tim."

"Sarah go and wait in your tent. Abby come with me."

"What out here?!"

"Yes Abby! Out here!" Tim said putting his hand out. Abby stood up and stamped her foot, but it really didn't have the same effect when you were wearing flip flops on dirt. Tim just grabbed her hand anyway and pulled her off towards the trees.

When they had reached an area where there was a fallen branch Tim sat down and wasted no time in pulling Abby over his knee. Pulling down her sweatpants, he peppered her backside with a flurry of stinging swats that had her eyes watering in minutes. Then he slowed but if anything the smacks were harder and he didn't alter his pace until her breath began to hitch in sobs. He stopped then and pulled her up into a hug.

"I'm sorry Timmy. I shouldn't..... have just .....disappeared like that and....... I should have.... watched Sarah.... more closely."

"No you shouldn't and yes you should've, but I forgive you. Even if you did throw up on my shirt."

"Oh sorry Timmy did I?" she giggled.

"Oh so you think it's funny do you?" he said tapping her bottom a few times.

Abby giggled some more. "Come on, I need to go and get Sarah." He said.

"Was it really her fault Timmy?"

"Yeh Abs. She made her choices. No one forced her to drink. No one even gave her permission."

"I guess. It's just; it would have been kind of tempting with all of us....."

"Stop right there Abs. Don't start making excuses for her. She has been so much better but if we start to let her get away with stuff now, we'll be back where we started."

"Ok."

Back in their tent Tony looked intently at Ziva. "You know you deserve a spanking too don't you? Keeping me here in these squalid conditions while you're over there in the lap of luxury."

"What if I cover for you, and I give you the return, you cannot ever speak of this again."

"I can go and sit in the Jacuzzi? For how long?"

"An hour? I will pretend you are asleep."

"Oh Ziva, I knew there was a reason that I loved you so much." He said pulling her into a hug. "Thank you."

"You are welcome." She said kissing him deeply.

Back in Sarah's tent, Zac was laying with her. They were holding hands. "Why do you keep doing that stuff Sar when you know your gonna get in trouble?"

"Death wish I guess."

"Seems so to me sometimes. Tim's gonna tan your ass, you know that don't you?"

"Well Duh! Way to state the obvious Zac."

"You really are a smart ass sometimes aren't you.I can see why your always in trouble."

"Why do you hang around me then if I'm so much trouble?"

"Well, you are trouble but your very cute."

"Hey guys." Abby said, sticking her head in the tent. "I hate to interupt, but Timmy wants you."

"Here goes nothing." She said squeezing Zacs hand as she got up to leave."

"Zac?"

"Yeh Abby?"

"I know I did the wrong thing not taking better care of Sarah."

"Not really my business Abby but I did wonder."

"I knew you would. That's why I mentioned it. I shouldn't have let her pour the drinks but I would have stopped her if I'd of realised what she was doing."

"You're human Abs. I get it."

"Thanks."

In Jimmy's tent. "You ok?"

"Yeh. I'm really sorry."

"I know."

"Do you think they'll hate me?"

"Na. I know they won't. I'd say that you four are pretty alike actually. All have a knack for finding trouble."

Everyone was slowly finding there way back to the fire. Abby, Jimmy,Amber and Zac were starting to make lunch when Gibbs returned with the boys. Ducky returned soon after with Jess followed closely by an embarrassed Sarah. "We saw Sarah gettin a spanking. She must have been bad."

"I'm so sorry my dear, I thought that the coast was clear."

"That's ok Ducky, it wasn't your fault."

"Whatya do Sarah?" Jess asked.

"Nothing."

"Daddy wouldn't spank you for nothing."

"Leave her alone Jess." Tim said."Or you might just be next."

She ran away and Tim smiled.

"Where's Tony Ziva?" Tim asked.

"He is sleeping. He did not have a good time last night."

Not very far away, Tony was lying in the Jacuzzi, listening to Frank Sinatra and finally starting to relax.

After lunch,the girls started to talk about what they would do with their afternoon.

"Oh No you don't. That's the final part of your punishment."Tim said. The girls all looked up stunned. "You girls are gonna do what we did yesterday. You're gonna take the kids fishing."

"Is that all!.....Oh how hard can that be." Abby said.

"A breeze." Ziva said.

The other two nodded in agreement.

A few hours later found three wet, emotionally and physically exhausted women and one grumpy teenager with a hangover dragging two wet children, one chasened little girl and two sopping dogs back to the camp. They left one of the fishing poles in the stream where it got stuck during the fight that saw everyone ending up in the water.

It was very brave of Rex to jump in and save Dylan after he and Toby had fallen in the water after fighting over a tangled line, but then Abby had had to jump in to save Lulu who had followed Rex. Ziva had tried to help Abby but had been pushed all the way in the water by Jess who misunderstood and thought she was hurting her mother. The other two had tried to pull the others out but after looking at each other and deciding that they shouldn't miss out on a dunking, Ziva had pulled Sarah in and Abby had done the same to Amber.

"Have fun ladies?" Tony asked.

"As a matter of fact we did." Abby said.

TBC


	11. Chapter 11

Thankyou so much for all the lovely alerts and reviews. You inspire me :)

Chapter 11

It was a little late in the afternoon when the girls decided to let the guys go fishing on there own. The girls all congregated in the family tent, where there was more room. They were playing a card game. The kids got restless and asked if they could play outside.

"Ok. But you can only play around the camp. Don't go past the clearing." Abby said.

"We won't." Dylan said with his fingers crossed behind his back.

"You sure we aren't gonna get in trouble?" Toby said.

"Well, I can't be a hundred percent but we should be safe. We've just gotta get back before my Dad gets back from fishing. My Mom's ok. She only ever spanked me that one time and that was cause she thought you drowned."

"Yeh well she was pretty scary."

"What else can we do? Would you rather tell Gibbs that we borrowed his compass and it fell out of my pocket?"

"No." Toby said shaking his head. "If I had to choose, I'd take your Mom bein scary over Gibbs bein scary anyday."

"If we do this quick, nobody has to get scary. We'll just hike up there find the compass, come back and put it back in Gibbs pack before they get back from fishing."

Toby didn't look convinced. "Maybe we should take the bikes, it'd be quicker."

"Na. Didn't you hear Gibbs this morning say "Under no circumstances are you boys to go anywhere on these bikes with out an adult."

"Yeh I guess your right."

"Come on." Dylan said hurrying towards the track.

They had been gone about four minutes when Dylan sensed something and turned around. "What do you think you're doin?" He said to Jess.

"I'm comin with you." She said haughtily.

"No your not. Go back." Dylan said.

"You have to take me now, cause I heard everything and I'll tell."

"You didn't hear anything."Dylan said.

"Did too. You stole Gibb's compass and then you lost it." Dylan and Toby looked at each other, panic rising at Jess pretty accurate summation of the situation.

"We didn't steal it." Toby said. "We just borrowed it."

"Same thing. Now where are we going.?"

"You're not coming." Dylan tried again.

"OK. I'll just go and tell my Mommy what you did." Jess said in a nasty sing song voice.

Toby looked like he was going to cry.

"Come on then. But stay by us and you have to do what I say or else."

"Or else what Dylan? You're not the boss of me." She said hands on hips. Dylan had a bad feeling about this. Especially now that Jess was involved. But they didn't really have any choice. So on they went.

The girls decided that their energy was really flagging now after their big night last night and the afternoon they'd had with the kids. Ziva offered to go and get Red bull cans for everyone. She wasn't gone long though when she stuck her head back in the tent. "Abby I think we have a problem."

"What's wrong, don't tell me the boys drank......"

"No, I am serious Abby. The children are not out here. I checked all the other tents and they are not here."

"Shit!" Abby said not bothering with sign language. Jumping to her feet, she ran outside and checked all the tents again.

"If you kids are hiding you better come out right now! It's not funny anymore!" she shouted panicking. "I told them not to go away from here."

" Look let's not panic. We'll just have to look for them Abby. They haven't been gone that long, we'll find them." Sarah said. Trying to sound more confident than she felt.

"How the hell could I have lost three kids."

"Um Abby?" Amber said. "Three children and two dogs."

"Oh God! The dogs too?"

"I'm gonna go down to the boys and get Timmy. He and Tony and Gibbs will find them." Abby said.

"Good idea . I will come." Ziva said.

When they got to where the boys were fishing Abby had worked herself into a real state. It was lucky that Ziva went with her because she was able to translate what the problem was. Tim gathered Abby into his arms and tried to sooth her, but he knew that time was of the essence if they were gonna find the kids before dark. Gibbs was already on his way back to the camp to get what he needed to start the search. After rifling through his pack he came outside of his tent and pulled Tony off to the side. "I think I may have an idea what happened."

"What boss?"

"My compass that Abby and Tim bought me is missing. I have a feeling that the boys might have 'borrowed it'."

"And you think that this has something to do with them all being missing?"

"Yeh. I'm not sure exactly how. But my gut tells me it has something to do with it."

"Where do we start looking?"

"Yeh where DO we start?" Tim said. The other men were standing behind him ready to help.

"I think we should start on the bike trail that I took the boys on this morning."

"Good a place as any." Tim said. "If we take the bikes we'll be quicker."

They hadn't gone very far at all though when Rex came flying at them.

Patting Rex Tim knew the kids would be alright. They just had to get Rex to show then where they were. "Come on boy." Tim said "Show us where Dylan is."

Rex tore off doubling back every so often to make sure they were following him. It took them only about twenty minutes until they could hear arguing voices. Tim smiled. Although he didn't like hearing the language they were using, their voices sounded sweet to his ears.

Further up the trail Jess was tired and refusing to walk anymore. "I want my Mommy or my Daddy."

"Look Jess I'm tired too, I can't carry you anymore."

"I'm hungry." Toby looked at Dylan who rolled his eyes.

"I knew it was a mistake to bring you. Now where gonna get in trouble for bringing you as well as everything else. If you'd have just let us do this on our own, we'd be done and back there eating dinner by now."

Jess signed at Dylan with her hands.

"What does that mean anyway? I bet you don't even know."

"I do so."

"Do not."

"I said you were a son of a bitch."

"Whooo ooh! Aren't you clever. You just called Mom a bitch."

"I did not!" Jess said horrified.

"Did too. You said I was a son of a bitch. I'm Mom's son so that means you called Mom a bitch."

Jess burst into tears. Dylan felt bad now. It's just that she was such a pest sometimes. "Come on Jess. Don't cry. I'm sorry."

"What did you three think that you were doing leaving the camp like that!!!" Tim's voice boomed out. Toby felt like running the other way. It was one thing to be in trouble with your own parent but it was another with someone else's parents, That was different. And Toby was in trouble. That was evident in Tim's voice.

Jess threw herself into her Daddy's arms. "They made me come Daddy. I didn't want to but they said if I didn't they'd kill me."  
"That's not true. You're a stinkin rotten little liar." Dylan said.

"That's not what happened Mr McGee." Toby said.

"What did happen boys?"

"Jess said if we didn't take her she'd tell." Toby said.

"Tell what?" Tim asked.

Toby looked at Dylan and Dylan answered this time. "We were in our tent and we were looking at Gibbs compass when Zac came in the tent. I got scared and I put it in my pocket so he wouldn't see that I had it."

"Are you telling me Dylan that you TOOK the compass out of Gibbs bag?"

"I wasn't gonna keep it. It was an accident. And then when we went on the bike ride it fell out of my pocket and I lost it. We just wanted to find it so we could put it back. But then Jess followed us and she said she was gonna tell...."

"Yeh I got that bit." Tim said glaring at Jess. "You three are in big trouble you two took something that didn't belong to you. Didn't we go through this with the councillor's wallet?"

"Yes Sir." Both the boys said nodding.

"Short memories." He said. "Now both of you apologise to Gibbs."

"Sorry Gibbs." they both said sadly.  
"Apology accepted boys." He said. Gibbs felt like a heel. He knew the boys would be punished. They can't be taking things out of peoples bags, he just wished it had nothing to do with him. "Don't worry about the compass boys. There's no one out here. I'll ride up tomorrow when it's light and find it. OK?"

"OK." They both said.

"Why am I in trouble?" Jess asked. "I didn't steal nothin."

"No but you still left the camp, you blackmailed Dylan and Toby and you've been using bad words again." Tim said.

"Not fair."

"I know what's not gonna be fair in a minute?" Tony whispered to Jimmy.

"What?" Jimmy asked.

"Her butt."

"Jimmy giggled."

"You stop laughing at me Jimmy." Jess said with her hands on her hips.

Tim smacked her bottom. "Apologise to Jimmy Jess. He's an adult. You don't speak to adults like that."

"Sor-ry!" she said. Tim smacked her again. "Try again."

Jess started to cry now. "Sorry Jimmy." Much better Tim said picking her up."Let's go back to the tents. Mommy's worried."

When they got back the children were surrounded by women kissing and cuddling them. This was cut short though when Tim took the two boys into the family tent and stood them facing the tent wall. "Stay there until I get back." he said, giving each of them a smack.

Taking Jess by the hand he took her into the tent she was sharing with Sarah. Being a bit short on chairs, he opted to tuck her under his arm instead. He lowered her jeans and smacked her bottom hard six times. She started crying immediately. Her over dramatic wails echoed around the campsite breaking the heart of anyone who heard them, including Tim's. He picked her up and cuddled her until her cries turned to sobs. "Jess Daddy spanked you because you were very naughty to do those things you did. And look at me. No...more...swearing. Not with words and not with signing. Do you hear?"

"Yes Daddy." She said starting to cry again, this time quietly remorseful.

"And Jess."

"Yes Daddy?"

"I love you."

"I love you too Daddy."

Outside by the fire Abby was in tears herself. Ziva and Amber were comforting her. Sarah was pissed. "What the hell did you do to her Tim to make her cry like that?" she hissed at him.  
"I spanked her Sarah, it was well deserved and if you don't watch your attitude I'll be giving you a demonstration." He said going over to check on Abby.

"You ok now. There safe now Abby, that's what counts. I didn't really hurt her you know. Why don't you go and check on her and give her a cuddle. It'll make you both feel better." She nodded and kissed him and went to see Jess.

Tim rolled his eyes to Gibbs and went to see the boys. Thinking it was hardest to wait, he called Toby first and sent Dylan outside to wait. "Come here son. I'm not gonna lecture you, You know what you did was wrong, don't you?"

Toby nodded, tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry Mr McGee."

"I know Toby." He said. Tucking him under his arm, he landed ten hard swat to his backside and then pulled him into a hug. It's ok now. You're kissed the top of his head and sent Toby outside to wait. Dylan came in his head down. "I'm sorry Dad."

"I know Dylan but we can't go here again. If you steal anything ever again, I'll use my belt. Are we clear."

'Yes Dad." He said sadly. Tucking him under his arm he lowered his pants and gave him ten hard swats. He pulled him into hug and kissed his head. "I love you Dyl." He said.

That night after dinner, they roasted marshmallows on the open fire and had a sing-along. Tony even let Tim sing 'Michael Row Your Boat Ashore'.Hell he thought, maybe a little God singing would stop the McBrats from stealing stuff.

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

Princess McGee ?! Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Laying cuddled up to her Timmy in the double sleeping bag, for what would be the last night of their trip, Abby had to admit she'd had there really was something special about being naked in a sleeping bag with the one that you love. Except for the getting sick and the hangover and being spanked in the woods and the kids stealing Gibbs' compass and then running off. Except for those things, it had been a lot of fun.

"You still awake?" Tim said quietly.

"Yep. I was just thinking how much fun this weekend's been."

"Really? You really had a good time. I mean I know it's not your perfect idea of a break."

"It wasn't at first, but I'm starting to realise that it's not about where you are, but who you're with. Even if you're favourite person does bring their very hard hand with them everywhere they go."

"I thought I'd been pretty easy going this weekend."

"Yeh, I guess you have for your new 'hard ass Timmy' persona."

"I'll have you know, I've let things slide this weekend."

"Like what?"

"Like the fact that our daughter has suddenly developed a new skill."

"Has she? What?"

"Cussing , using sign language. Now who do I know that knows sign language?"

"Gibbs? Gibbs knows sign language." She said giggling.

"It's not really very funny Abs. And when Sister Mary Clarence phones next week because Jess has done it at school, you can go and sort it out. I hate going to see the principal. She makes me feel like I'm eight years old again, waiting to be paddled."

Abby giggled. "You don't have to worry Timmy, they don't paddle kids in school anymore."

"No now they just call up the parents and yell at them instead."

"Tim, I didn't teach Jess that. She did see me sign a couple of words and she knew what I said. Some boy in foster care showed her."

"How much can she sign?"

"Only swear words were in his repertoire apparently."

"That's great.........Wait, so what she saw you sign were swear words I take it?"

"I'm pleading the fifth, and I'm really very tired Timmy. There's one good thing though."

"What's that Abs?" he said.

"We know she picks up new things easily."

"Mmm, if only we can get her to use her skills for good and not evil."

"OW!!! What was that for?"

"Swearing in sign language."

"Good night John boy! Goodnight Mary Ellen." Gibbs shouted sarcastically.

"Technically Gibbs, if we were John Boy and Mary Ellen, we shouldn't be in the same sleeping bag." Abby said. "They were brother and sister. Eww."

"Technically Abby? Your husband wasn't the only one to bring his hard hand."

"Did you hear all that?" Abby said.

"Sure did." Gibbs said.

"Um........did you maybe hear anything else?" Abby asked sheepishly.

"Uh huh. Not by choice." Gibbs said with a shudder.

"Oh God! Tell me the kids are asleep." Tim said panicking.

"They are."

"I'm not." Tony said grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"You needn't talk Dinozzo."

"I am here too Gibbs."Ziva said.

"I know! Now will you all just get to sleep."

'Yes Boss"

"Yes Gibbs."

"On it Boss. Not really on it. Going to sleep now Boss."

"Are you sure you really heard Bossman because..."

"Abbyyy!" Tim hissed.

"Ouch! Alright already. I'm going to sleep."

The next morning, They woke up to find Jimmy and Amber feeding the kids pancakes. "Well good morning!" Abby said. "This is a nice surprise."

"Would you like some Abby?" Jimmy asked.

"Thankyou Jimmy. I wouldn't have taken you two for being Domestic goddesses. Not technically goddesses. It would be god and goddesses. Or their domestic equivalent."

"We get the picture Abs." Amber said with a smile. "And we're not. Pancakes are about it. But we excel at pancakes."

"That you do! These are fantastic." She said with her mouth full. "Morning Gibbs. About last night...."

"Abs, the least said about last night, the better." Jimmy looked at Gibbs and then Abby curiously.

"Don't ask." Abby said.

"What don't you want Jimmy to ask,Mommy?"

"Yeh. What McMommy?" Tony said wandering in and grabbing a plate of pancakes. Abby shot Tony a glare.

"Nothing honey, what would you kids like to do after breakfast?"

"Swimming!" they all said at once.

"How about it people? Anyone else up for a swim?" Abby said. At a chorus of yes's Abby finished her breakfast and went to get changed.

Abby bent down and kissed Tim to wake him up. "Morning sleepy head. Come on we're gonna go swimming with the kids."

"That'll be fun." Tim said as he watched his wife change into her bikini. "I know what would be even more fun."

"Yeh it would, but that's gonna have to wait until we get home."

"You could just lay here with me for a minute." Tim said sticking his bottom lip out. Abby had her bikini bottom on but not the top but she bent down anyway to give Tim a kiss and he playfully pulled her down on top of him. Just then their tent zipped open and Tony stuck his head in to see what was keeping Abby.

"Um.... sorry!" he said grimacing and zipping up the tent really fast.

"Geez Dinozzo! Don't you know how to knock?"

"How the hell do you knock on a tent!" Tony said. "You really think I want to see that on purpose."

"We weren't doing anything!" Abby said. "We were just wrestling."

"Yeh, that's what the maid told me when I caught her with the gardener when I was twelve. You coming Abs or not? I mean swimming. Oh God, I'll just see you down there ok? Ziva and I will take the kids."

Tim and Abby were still laughing when they walked hand in hand down to the stream not long after Tony and Ziva and the kids. Jimmy, Amber, Sarah and Zac were already in the water and Gibbs and Ducky were fishing further down the stream. Tim and Tony were under neath a hanging branch of a weeping willow, catching the boys as they swung and then dropped into the water. Jess was standin on the bank crying. She wanted to do it but was too scared. In the end Tim had to have several goes of climbing ,swinging and jumping with Jess in his arms.

Reluctantly, they eventually had to leave the water and go and pack up the camp, as the weekend was nearly over and they all had to go to work or school the next day.

They decided to just pack up and go and eat together somewhere on the way home. While they sat in the restaurant and the kids played in the play area they discussed doing it again.

"I'd happily come again." Tony said surprising everyone. "But next time, I'm bringing the best blow up mattress that money can buy."

"I'm bringing a soundproof tent that locks from the inside." Tim said. Gibbs smirked.

"I'm bringing a hang over cure." Abby said.

The others all agreed that they were happy with things the way they were.

"I thought it was great." Ziva said.

"I had a good time. Did you?" Jimmy said to Amber.

"I had a ball." She said.

"On retrospect though, I think we should bring a separate tent for Rex and Lulu next time. They really weren't very fresh after there little swim in the stream." Ducky said.

"I'll second that." Gibbs said.

"Me too." Zac said screwing his nose up.

"You could just share a tent with me next time." Sarah said.

"Not happening." Four male voices said at once.

The next day at school, Jess was happy to see her friend. Her name was Maddie. Maddie was about the same as Jess in height with very long hair similar to Jess's hair except that her hair was brown as were her eyes. The things that Jess and Maddie both had in common were their long hair, and the fact that they loved Barbie dolls and they were both very naughty. Jess was naughty, that couldn't be denied but Maddie was sometimes worse. And, Maddie hated boys.

In Jess class there were four students to every boys and two girls. They face each other. Maddie would do anything she could to get the boys in trouble. Sometimes she would scribble all over her work and say that one of the boys had done it or she would paint on the desk and blame them, but today she did the worst thing she ever did to the poor one of the boys were away. That left only the three of them. This was the perfect opportunity to get a boy in trouble. But it had to be something really it hit her. She could cut the end off her hair. Her hair was braided just like Jess's always was for school, with about three inches left at the ends. When the teachers back was turned to the blackboard, she took the scissors that were on her desk and quickly cut the end off her braid. She then dumped the scissors down in front of the boy, who's name is Connor, opened her mouth and wailed like she'd had her arm removed. "Connor cut my hairrrr. He cut it! ."

She carried on. The teacher came running towards their table.

"What happened?" she said to the table in general. Jess put her hand up.

"Yes Jess?"

"Connor cut Maddie's hair with the scissors."

"Maddie's cries if anything were getting louder."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep." Jess said sure that this would win her a friend for life. "I saw him. He cut her hair with those scissors right there." Maddie's crying slowed and then stopped and she looked at Jess with utter gratitude.

"Right. The three of you better go to the principals office." Picking up the phone she dialled and after a quick explanation, hung up. "Someone will be down to get you soon." She said.

Tim was down in Abby's lab helping her to process evidence when the phone on his desk rang. Tony got up to answer it. "No, he's not at his desk at the moment, I'll just transfer you.......No problem."...... "McGee! The Nun's on the phone........Irish accent........No she didn't say. Transfering her now." He hung up chuckling.

"Which one this time?" Gibbs said.

"Dunno. One of the little ones though. It was Sister Mary Clarence." Tony said. "What do you reckon he or she did this time?"

"I think Jess with the sign language in the classroom." Gibbs said.

"Zi-va? What do you think?"

"Ah........I think Dylan fighting in the playground."

"Both excellent choices but I'm gonna go with Jess with fighting in the classroom." Just then Tim came out of the elevator and grabbed his stuff. "Sorry boss gotta go to school again."

"Why?"

"Sorry to disappoint you Tony,but your all wrong. No one wins. It is Jess in the class room with lying!"

TBC


	13. Chapter 13

Thankyou for all the lovely reviews and alerts. I really appreciate them and they make it much easier for me to write :)

To my anoymous reviewer who today called herself Abby but sometimes goes by the name of Amy or Mya or one of the other countless names you come up with. It's obvious that it's you each time. You tell me over and over again that Abby should be spanking Tim. Thar everyone knows that Abby should spnk Tim. Could someone please make Abby spank Tim in this story. Please stop begging and being rude because it's not going to happen. I tried at first to explain nicely but you don't seem to understand. I like to write M/F disipline stories. Sometimes F/f, M/f or M/m even F/m. I don't like to write F/M. Although I have nothing against anyone who does, I just don't feel comfortable writing it. If that's what you would like to read I suggest you look for a story that has what your looking for in it or have a go at writing one for yourself. Writing is a lot of fun.

Sorry for the rant again. To those of you who actually are still enjoying my story, I hope you like this chapter.

:)

Chapter 13

Tim sat outside Sister Mary Clarence's office with his hands on his knees trying to keep them still. He breathed in and out slowly while he tried to imagine exactly what Jess had done now. He knew it involved Maddie and another child but he didn't know the complete ins and outs. He could tell though by the sound of her voice that the Sister wasn't happy.

Tim looked up at the sound of high heels clicking on the polished wood. Great ! Maddie's mother. That's all he needed. He'd met her last week when he was waiting to pick up the kids ,and she'd bent his ear for a full ten minutes until he thought his head would explode. Apparently the whole school faculty was hell bent on blaming her precious Maddie for everything that went wrong in the school. It was the same at the last school she was in. People just didn't, according to this obviously spoiled woman understand the workings of a complicated child. Of course she was different from other children. She was special. She bored easily, had to find ways to amuse herself. Wasn't her fault at all that the school wasn't able to stimulate her and that she needed to have extra attention. No it wasn't Tim had thought at the time. It was clear to him where the blame laid.

"Timothy! Nice to see you again. Maddie talks about Jess all the time. They are inseparable at school." She said in her posh voice.

"Mmmm, Tim said. You could even say they were partners in crime."

"But they're just little girls. Teachers don't understand what Maddie needs."

Tim smiled blandly. I know what you both need he thought. Come on, open the damn door and let's get this over with he thought. As if she'd read his mind the door opened and a very cranky Sister Mary Clarence stood at the door.

"You may both come in." she said stony faced.

Tim stood back and let Maddie's mother walk in before him. He closed the door behind him and noticed Jess and Maddie and a little boy about the same age standing next to them. Maddie immediately threw herself at her mother who enveloped her in a hug. "Mommy!" she cried dramatically "He" she said pointing to the little boy. "He cut my hair!" She held up the braid that did indeed seem to have the end cut off. Tim was watching Jess face. Interestingly Jess was not watching him. She was was watching the floor.

"Jess did you see this boy cut my baby's hair?" the obnoxious woman asked.

Not as brave as in the classroom, Jess answered quietly. "Yes I did."

"Oh God she IS lying." Tim thought.

Sister Mary Clarence held up a pair of scissors. "Is this the pair of scissors that Connor used to cut Maddie's hair Jessica?"

Tim wasn't sure if she was avoiding lying again or just being plain naughty, but he was surprised at her answer. "Don't call me Jessica. My name is Jess!"

Maddie's mother laughed. Tim shot her daggers.

"Jessica McGee!" Tim said making a point. "Apologise to Sister this minute!" After a brief staring contest Jess looked down.

"Sorry Sister."

"Now answer Sister's question Jess."

"Yes. Those were the scissors."

"Do you agree Maddie that these were definitely the scissors that were used?"

"Yes Sister." She said. Sister sighed deeply.

"Connor you may go back to class. You are not in trouble. I apologise for the mix up."

"Girls you may wait on the seats outside my office. Don't move from there." The girls scurried outside.

"We have serious problem here." Sister said when the girls had closed the door.

"We certainly do!" Maddie's mother said haughtily. "That little hoodlem cut my daughter's hair and nothing happened to him. I want him to be suspended at the very least. And I think I'm being generous. Really, he should be expelled. He assaulted my little girl."

"No he didn't." Sister said. Tim had to admire her patience. He felt like throttling the stupid woman. Did she never give her voice a rest.

"Maddie said......." Sister held up a hand but that didn't stop the clueless woman it just slowed her a bit. "And Jess said...."

"I don't care what they said. He didn't do it."

"How can you be so sure?" Maddie's Mom asked.

"Because, Connor is left handed." Sister said.

"What difference does that make?"

"Actually, I'm left handed and it makes a big difference. Connor would have to use special left handed scissors." Tim said. He knew his loyalty should probably be to Jess but he couldn't help feeling pleased for poor Connor. With two kids accusing him like that he must have thought he was in for it for sure.

"Oh." Maddie's mother said.

"Yes. Oh! That's why Connor's parents aren't here." She went and opened the door and let the girls back in.

"What you two girls have done is a terrible thing. Lying is never a good thing. The punishment wouldn't have been so big if you had lied to get yourself out of trouble, you would have lost your lunch time play for a few days but that's all. But lying to deliberately get someone into trouble is a terrible thing."

"We're not lying! Are we Jess?" Maddie said desperately. Tim bent down and made Jess look him in the eye.

"Tell...the....truth!" he said firmly. She burst into tears.

"I lied." She said and started to cry loudly. Positive that she had now lost her best friend. Tim thought just quietly that that might be a good thing.

"Maddie?" her mother asked.

"Yes." She said defeated now. "I lied."

"Why?"

"I don't like boys. They're yucky. I don't like to sit with boys."

" I'll let you parents deal with this as you see fit at home but from the school's point of view, they are both suspended for three days. They essentially framed another student and that is not acceptable at this school. Thankyou for coming, I'll see you all in three days."

"Sister could I ask a question?" Maddie's mother asked as we were about to leave.'

"Certainly." Sister said.

"Would it be possible if when she comes back, that Maddie could sit on a desk with just girls?"

"No! Maddie will sit where she is told!" Sister said looking like her restraint was finally about to slip.

"Come along Maddie." Her Mother said taking her hand. "We better go and have that hair fixed."

"Can I have my nails done too?"

"I don't know about that Maddie. We'll have to see if they can fit us in. We don't have an appointment." Tim couldn't believe his ears.

He grabbed Jess's hand and escaped as fast as he could. He did not even trust himself to speak for about ten minutes, he was so angry. Jess didn't have anything to say either. She knew she was in big trouble. Actually she couldn't really think of anything to say. So she just started to cry. Tim didn't even turn around to console her. When they reached NCIS though, he got her out of the car and lifted her up and carried her so that he could talk to her quietly while they walked. "I still love you Jess, but Daddy is very upset and disappointed with you right now."

"Are you gonna spank me?"

"Yes I am. After I talk to Mommy and explain what happened. I also have to talk to Gibbs and ask him if it's ok for you to come here everyday. Do you know what suspended means?" She shook her head. "It means that your not allowed to go to school for the next three days."

"So I get another weekend?"

"No, it won't be like a weekend. You're gonna have to do work. It's not a holiday. You're in trouble." As they reached their floor he exited taking Jess over to his desk. "Sit there and don't touch anything until I come back."

"Ok Daddy." She said sadly.

"Ah Boss....Could I have a word?" Tim asked.

"Sure." Gibbs said looking up at Tim with his glasses on the end of his nose. Looking over at Jess and back up at Tim. "With me." And he said as he strode over to the elevator.

When her Daddy walked away Jess sat still like she had been told.

Her head was down, her lip stuck out and her chin started to wobble. Tears started running down both cheeks. Tony and Ziva were having a mouthing argument. Tony started to go over to Jess.

"Leave her!" Ziva mouthed in no uncertain terms. "She is in trouble."

"But she's crying." Tony mouthed back.

"Tony." Ziva hissed quietly.

"I can't just leave her. I won't move her from where she was put." He hissed back just as quietly.

Tony went and knelt down in front of Jess. With a tissue he wiped her eyes. "Hey Sweetie, why are you so sad?"

"My Daddy's mad at me."

"Did you get in trouble at school?"

She nodded. "Now I'm spended and Daddy's gonna spank me."

"What did you do?"

"I telled a lie to help Maddie."

"What did Maddie do?"

"She cut her hairrrr......she said crying loudly again."

"Why would she do that?" Tony said genuinely confused.

"To get Connor in trouble." She sobbed.

"Well never mind, it'll be alright." he said hugging her and kissing the top of her head. Women don't make much sense no matter what age they are he thought.

Gibbs got out of the elevator and went to his desk. "Dinozzo back to work, Jess is in trouble."

"Jess. Come over here please."Gibbs said. He passed her a piece of paper with a few words written across the top. "Read me what these words say."

Jess took the paper.

"I will not tell lies." she read.

"Very good. Now take this pencil and sit at your Daddy's desk and copy those words over and over until you get to the bottom of the page."

"I don't wanna do that. It's too much."

"Did Gibbs ask you if you felt like doing that?" Gibbs asked firmly.

"No." she said shaking her head.

He smacked her hard on the bottom. "Then scoot, and do as you're told."

Down in Abby's lab, she turned to the ding of the elevator. "Thank God Timmy. I thought you'd never get back. Is everything alright?"

"Well kind of. No not really. Jess has been suspended for three days."

"Three days! What the hell did she do? She's only six! What do you have to do to get suspended at six?"

"She and Maddie framed a little boy that sits on their desk."

"HOW?!FOR WHAT?! Framed? HOW?!"

"Well, Maddie apparently wanted to get this Connor in trouble."

"WHY?!"

"Because he's a boy!"

"Because he's a BOY?! That's the only reason?!"

"Seems so. Anyway she cut her own hair and then said that Connor did it."  
"What did Jess have to do with it?"

"She lied for Maddie. Jess told the teacher that she saw Connor cut Maddie's hair with the scissors."

Abby's mouth dropped open. "POOR CONNOR! Did he get in trouble?"

"No. Not at all. The teacher knew they were lying from the start. The scissors were normal right handed scissors and Connor is left handed."

"Wow!!! Lucky for Connor.I can see why they were suspended. What did you do to Jess?"

"Nothing yet. She's upstairs with Gibbs. He said he would get her to write some lines."

"What are you gonna do? Are you gonna spank her?"

"Yeh, I told her I would after I came down to talk to you. I was too angry with her before."

"Well I can understand that. But.....Wow! I still can't believe she would do that. It's not just naughty. It's just plain mean. Look there's not much I can do here at the moment, I'll come with you. I want to have a word with her too."

"Thanks Abs." he said holding out his hand. Putting her hand in his they entered the elevator together and went up to the bullpen.

Gibbs smiled to himself to see Tim and Abby coming to deal with Jess together. This was really a step forward. In his opinion, it's exactly what this little girl needed a firm united front from all the adults in her life. Especially both her parents. Judging by the look of worry on her face though, he doubted that Jess would agree with him. "Room two." He said in answer to Tim's silent question.

Abby took Jess's hand with a stern look on her face and the three of them walked silently up the hallway. Gibbs didn't look up from his work. Ziva and Tony exchanged glances but continued with their paperwork also.

When they got inside the room, Tim motioned for Jess to sit down. Abby sat in the other chair and Tim sat on the desk. "Why did you lie Jess?" Abby asked with tears in her eyes.

"Because Maddie's my friend."

"What did you think would happen to Connor?" Tim asked seriously.

"I thought he'd get in trouble."

"You wanted him to get in trouble?" Abby said angrily wiping away her annoying tears.

"Maddie did."

"I didn't ask you about what Maddie wanted. I asked you if YOU wanted him to get in trouble." Abby said.

"I was only thinking that Maddie would be happy if I said I saw him do it."

"Even if he was gonna get in trouble." Abby persisted.

"I guess."

"Jessica McGee I have never been more upset with you than I am right now." Abby said sadly.

"I'm sorry Mommy."

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why are you sorry?"

"We made Connor cry. I like Connor but Maddie is my bestest friend."

"I want you to think very carefully before you ever do anything that Maddie is doing again, because next time it might not just be Daddy that spanks you, I might spank you as well."

Tim took her hand and pulled her around in front of him. "This is big trouble this time Jess. You are never to lie like that again. You are not to bully people like that again. And if you're in the Sister's office, you do not back chat." Tim told Abby quickly that Jess had told the Sister not to call her Jessica. Abby covered her face.

Tim lifted Jess up and placed her gently over his knee. Lifting her skirt, he held her firmly in place as he brought his hand down hard in the middle of her bottom. He waited for a few seconds for the sting to register before he brought his hand down again. "Ow!" Jess yelled. "Daddy stop." A third time Tim smacked her bottom hard. Jess kicked and squirmed, trying to get off his knee. Abby brushed tears away from her face.

"Lay still Jess. It's nearly over." She said. Tim finished the spanking with two very hard spanks to her sit spots and then replaced her skirt and pulled her up into a hug. When her loud cries slowed to a quiet hitching of her breath, he handed her over to an anxious Abby who kissed and cuddled her and played with her braids. "You're forgiven now Jess." She said quietly. Tim kissed the top of her head.

"But don't you ever do anything like that again."

"I won't Daddy." She said, still sobbing. They stood up and walked back to the bullpen. Abby went back down to the lab, Tim went back to his desk after setting Jess up on the other side to finish the lines that Gibbs had given her.

Tim looked at his daughter and smiled. She looked like an Angel he thought. Unfortunately, things were not always as they seem. This was gonna be an interesting few days.

TBC


	14. Chapter 14

Thankyou so much for all the lovely reviews and alerts that I recieved from those that are enjoying the story. I know that the story itself is OOC. I write the characters as I see them or sometimes as I would like them to be. I had a look at the posting rules and as far as I can see, I haven't broken any. So it comes down to choice. If you don't want to read my story because the characters are off for you, that's fine. Feel free to go and find a different story. I won't be offended.

I do however really appreciate all the people who do like the story and occasionally make a suggestion. That's fine. Always happy to hear from you :)

Chapter 14

Going home in the car that night Jess was very quiet. She stared out of her window and tried to ignore Dylan who was persistently poking her.

"What did you do?" he was silently mouthing.

Jess didn't answer him she just continued staring out of her window. She wondered what Maddie was doing and if she was still her friend. It wasn't easy for Jess to make friends and in Maddie she thought she'd found a friend who was like wasn't easy for her to be good all the time. The good girls in the class didn't understand kids like Jess and Maddie. She knew her Mommy and Daddy didn't like her playing with Maddie but she knew that was just because they didn't really know her. She could be nice. Well not to many people but she was nice to Jess.

Dylan poked Jess again. "What did you do?" he mouthed again silently.

"Leave me alone and stop poking me!" she said very loudly. Dylan rolled his eyes. Great now the brat was gonna get him in trouble.

Abby turned around "Just stop. Both of you. Your Dad's trying to drive the car."

"Listen to your Mom." Tim said from the driver' seat.

When Abby had turned back around, Jess poked her tongue out at Dylan. He poked his out back and poked her in the leg. She poked him back. Next he pushed her and she pushed him back. Dylan gave her a light slap low down on her leg to make sure it wouldn't be seen from the front seat. She returned the favour. This went on for about five minutes with the kids thinking that their parents were oblivious. Abby turned around swiping at both of them. "Do we have to stop this car?" They both shook their heads. "Good. Then look out your windows and don't talk to each other, poke each other or hit each other at all." Silence reigned and Abby and Tim actually thought they might make it home without another fight breaking out. Ha!

"Mommy!! He's looking out my window!"

"Am not."

"Are too. I sawed you."

"Was not ya big baby!"

"I'm not a baby!"

"Yes you are. Your a big tattling baby. You should wear a diaper." That was it Jess swung and managed to land a punch to Dylan's arm even though he dodged, the seatbelt made it difficult. He gave her a hard push this time that sent her sideways almost hitting her head on the window. And the fight was really on. Abby was completely turned around now trying to stop the fight while Tim was doing his best to get off the freeway. Finally, he was able to get off and he pulled the car over.

As soon as they felt the car stop, the kids stopped fighting. Sadly it was too late for them. Opening Dylan's side of the car Tim yanked him out and landed a half a dozen smacks to his backside. "Don't you ever do that while you're in the car again. We could have had an accident. It's very dangerous." Jess was so intent on enjoying this show that she didn't notice until it was too late her own door being opened and herself being yanked out of the car. Before she knew what had happened, her Mommy had landed some hard smacks on her own bottom. "You heard what Daddy said to Dylan, the same goes for you. No more fighting in the car." She said plopping Jess back into the car and fastening her seat belt.

With a big sigh Tim and Abby got back in the car and they drove off. Dylan turned to Jess and mouthed silently "I'm sorry." She mouthed back. "Me too."

Abby and Tim both smiled. Parents do really have eyes in the back of their head, and a rear vision mirror.

When they finally got through the front door, Abby smelled cooking. Sarah had started dinner. Abby could have kissed her. Actually she did kiss her after she'd given her a big hug. "You don't know how grateful I am to not have to cook tonight Sar." She said.

"Bad huh?" Abby nodded. She had rung Sarah earlier and let her in on what was going on.

"She ok?"

"She's fine. Do six year olds really understand what being suspended is? She doesn't have to go to school. I don't know if she'll look on that as a punishment."

Tim came into the room then. "Kids are up stairs doing their homework. Jess actually thought she didn't have to do hers because she wasn't going to school." Tim said shaking his head.

"See?" Abby said ,pointing towards Tim but talking to Sarah.

"Oh well. Been there. A few days at the bullpen with Gibbs and she'll know that she's in trouble."

Upstairs, Jess was sitting at her little table writing out her words. She was mad. This was dumb writing out stupid words. She wasn't even gonna be at school when they did the test. She felt like scribblin all over it. Her bottom was still stinging from where Mommy spanked her though so she didn't think that was a good idea. I bet Maddie's Mommy isn't making her do dumb spelling words. Or her Daddy. Maddie never got spanked never ever. It wasn't fair. She'd write the dumb words but she wasn't gonna bother to do them neat.

Abby opened the door to Jess room and found her writing out her words. Thank God. She thought. I don't know if I can take another confrontation, she thought. Going over to check Jess's work she sighed. "Jess. You can't read these words. Is this your best writing?"

Jess shook her head. "It's stupid anyway. I shouldn't have to write them when I don't hafta go to school."

"Well you're going to do it and your going to do it properly. Here's what I'm going to do. I'll erase these messy words and you can try again but if you do it messy again, you'll have to do it again twice. If you keep doing it messy then tomorrow you can sit with Gibbs and do it neatly at his desk. And Gibbs likes things done right."

Jess thought about that. She watched while her Mommy erased the work she'd done and sighed. She was getting tired. She may as well just do it and be finished. Besides Mommy didn't look like she was going anywhere, and she had her arms folded. That meant she was gonna make her no matter what. Jess picked up her pencil and started writing. Within five minutes she had her words neatly written out. Abby got her book out of the special bag and opened it for Jess to read. She flew through most of the pages only stumbling on a couple of words which Abby helped her to sound out. Fifteen minutes later they were all finished.

Abby ran Jess a bath, adding special bath wash. She came back into the room and helped Jess undress piling her hair up and putting it in a shower cap so it wouldn't get wet. In about ten minutes she had her out of the bath, dried and in her pyjamas. "You can go downstairs if you like and see Daddy and Sarah while I see how Dyl's going with his homework."

Abby knocked on Dyaln's door and then entered. "Hey Dyl." She said.

"Hey Mom." He said still writing his words.

"You nearly finished?"

"My spelling is nearly done, but I still have Math to do and I have to read."

"Anything I can help you with?"

"Na. It's ok, Dad said he'd help me with my math homework after dinner."

"Ok, well when you've finished your spelling, have a shower and come down for dinner ok?"

"Yeh." He smiled and got on with his work. "Mom?"  
"Yeh Dyl?"

"Sorry about in the car."

"That's ok." She smiled back.

The next morning, they dropped Dylan and Sarah to school and drove to NCIS. Jess had her back pack that Abby had packed school work in that she had to do and Tim had packed sandwiches, juice and snacks. They had decided that she would start in the bullpen and if Tim had to go out on a call he would bring her down to the lab.

The morning didn't start out too bad, she did some of her work but got bored after a while. That's when she started looking for things to do that weren't school work. She really wasn't trying to be naughty. She was just making a necklace when she joined all of Ziva's paper clips together and She didn't think that Tony would actually fall over when she tied his shoelaces together. She was just practicing. She was supposed to practice new things. That is how you get good at things her Mommy had told her. Gibbs wouldn't even believe that it was an accident when the peanut butter and jelly from her sandwich got all over his chair. Now she was standing in the corner and her bottom hurt all because of that cranky Gibbs.

"Over here Jess." Gibbs said. "Your Daddy will be back from helping Mommy in the lab soon. Now I want you to be a good girl and write out those numbers .OK?"

"That's boring."

"No it's not. Your Mommy and your Daddy both know a lot of stuff about numbers and they're two of the smartest people I know. Do you want to be smart like them when you grow up?"

"I'm gonna be a princess."

"Well, to be a princess and have nice things, in this country, you have to earn good money." Or marry someone and take all his, he thought sarcastically. "So you have to do your school work, so that you can get a good job."

"Princess's don't work silly."

Gibbs sighed and glared at Tony who was enjoying Gibbs losing a debate with a six year old. "Back to work Dinozzo!" he barked.

"On it Boss." He said trying to hide his grin.

"Jess?"

"Yes Gibbs."

"Go....and....do....your....school......work.....now!" he said.

"On it Boss." She said grinning and went back to her work.

Gibbs got up. "Goin for coffee Tony. Watch Jess." He said getting out of there fast, before he laughed in front of her.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think that Abby gave birth to that child." he said to himself chuckling as the elevator doors closed.

After a while Tim came and took Jess down to the lab for a break. For everyone else as much as her. "Hi Honey!" Abby said as she walked into the lab holding Tim's hand. "Were you good Jess?" she asked.

"Kinda, but don't ask Gibbs cause he doesn't think I was." She said honestly.

"Really! And why is that?"

"Cause he thinks I joined up all of Zivas paper clips on purpose, and he thinks I tied up Tony's shoelaces so he would fall over and he thinks that I squished the peanut butter and jelly all over his chair so he would sit on it."

"Did you do all those things?"

"I was making Ziva a present and I was practicing tying shoelaces like you told me and I was trying to eat my sandwich and the stuff just fell out."

"Mmm. And what did Gibbs do about all those things?" Abby asked.

"He smacked me three times and he made me stand in the corner." She pouted. "Mommy I'm hungry."

"Well maybe you should have eaten your sandwich instead of putting it all over Gibbs chair."

"I didn't. I told you it just fell out. Can't we go to the mall?" Just then Jimmy made an appearance.

"Hi Abby, Jess. Amber and I are going to the mall for lunch we could take her." Jimmy said to Abby helpfully.

"I don't know Jimmy....... She's in trouble....... You don't get to go to McDonalds when your in trouble." She winked at Jimmy slyly.

"Oh. Ok." He said playing along.

"Of course, if she was to have a sandwich with some salad on it, I guess she could go with you."

"Please Mommy,please? I promise I'll eat anything Jimmy tells me too. I'll be really good. Please?"

"Oh alright. You better behave though or Jimmy might just surprise you with how mean he can be. Right Jimmy?"

"Yeh sure." He said not even believing that himself. But that was alright, no one else in the room believed it either. Jimmy held his hand out to Jess and she took it looking up at him with her face alight.

When the doors of the elevators closed Jess looked up at Jimmy and smiled. "We really are gonna go to McDonalds aren't we Jimmy?" she said with her cutest smile. Jimmy looked at those big blue eyes and didn't know what to say. We'll just go to the mall and meet Amber and go from there he thought. But Jess was looking up at him waiting for an answer.

Choosing the old fallback his mother used to use he said "We'll see honey." Looking at the look of triumph on her face he groaned internally. Ok. Maybe that wasn't the right answer. What the hell had he done.

TBC


	15. Chapter 15

Thanks again for all the great reviews and alerts. I really do appreciate you taking the time and it does make it easier for me to write. I know I say it a lot, but it's true. :)

Chapter 15

As they walked towards the mall entrance where they would meet Amber, Jimmy held tight to Jess's hand as she skipped along beside him. "I love going to the mall Jimmy."

"Do you Honey. I do too sometimes."

"There's nice things to eat at the mall, and I like the toy store."

Jimmy was getting a bad feeling about this, he felt like the meat in a sandwich. On one hand, Jess was really cute and like everyone else he'd come to love her, he'd like nothing better than to get her what ever she wanted. But Abby said she was in trouble so she was only to get a healthy sandwich. MMmm. A pissed off Abby was a force to be reckoned with. He really didn't want to go there. Besides she'd trusted him with Jess. He didn't want to let her down. Jimmy spotted Amber and so did Jess, she pulled away from Jimmy and threw herself at Amber.

"Hey Honey." Jimmy said kissing her.

"Hey yourself." she said kissing him back.

"Hello Jess. How are you?"

"I'm good. I'm having lunch with you." She said excitedly.

"I know, your Mommy just sent me a text message." She said smiling and handing it to Jimmy. The message read. 'hope she's good. tell jimmy no treats. remember she's in trouble.'

"So where's a good place to eat?" Amber said.

"McDonalds!" Jess said.

"Sorry Honey, but that message from your Mommy said 'no treats'." Jimmy said.

"But she's not even here! How will she know?"

"She just will. Now how about a nice sandwich. That's what I'm gonna have." Amber said. Glaring at Jimmy Jess took Amber's hand and said sadly.

"You said I'll see. Ok Amber."she said.

"I think that's what I'll have too Jess." Jimmy said. Jess looked at Jimmy like she couldn't care if he ever ate again. Betrayal was written all over her face.

They ordered their sandwiches and drinks and then Jimmy asked Jess what she'd like to drink.

"Coke please." She said smiling again. He kind of knew that Coke mightn't be such a great idea for a little girl but he really couldn't bear to see that look on her face again so he gave in. He saw that triumphant look fly across her face again fleetingly and looked at Amber who raised her eyebrows.

"Jimmy do you think the Coke thing is ok?"

"It's just one drink."

"Yeh I know but no more treats! Abby's gonna kill us."

They ate their lunch, well Jimmy and Amber ate their lunch, Jess pulled most of the insides of hers out with disgust, eventually eating just the bread. Then Amber had to get something from one of the stores so they took Jess's hand and walked down towards the store that Amber needed to go. All of a sudden Jess pulled away from them and darted into the toy store.

Back in the bullpen Abby walked out of the elevator and went to talk to Tim."Where's Jess?" he asked.

"That's what I came to tell you. Jimmy and Amber took her to lunch with them."

Tony laughed. "Are you sure that's wise Abby?" Tim said grimacing. "I like Jimmy and all but he......Jess is........well" He stopped when Abby narrowed her eyes at him. Putting his hands up in mock surrender he said "Your right. She'll be fine with Jimmy. I hope he doesn't spoil her though, she's in trouble."

"Bet she comes back with half the store." Tony said grinning. He could feel another show coming on.

Gibbs smiled. "Give the kid some credit Dinozzo. After the mishap with the ice cream while you were away he was actually a help to me."

At the mall Jimmy and Amber looked at each other each of them silently daring the other to go and fetch her. "Fine. I'll go." Jimmy said taking a cleansing breath.

"And don't buy her anything. You know what Abs said." Amber called after him.

"I know. I wasn't going to." Jimmy said offended.

When he got inside the store he headed for the area that was mostly pink. He figured that's where she'd most likely be. Sure enough, there she was in a section of dolls called Bratz. MMmmm. Jimmy thought. "Put it back now honey, we have to go."

"Couldn't you get it for me Jimmy. I don't have one of these dollies." She said. "Please."

"Sorry Jess but the answer is no. Your not allowed to have any treats today. But if your a good girl all next week and Mommy says it's ok then we can come back here and I'll buy it for you ok?" Jimmy held his breath. Obviously he didn't know that kids smell fear and indecision from a mile away.

"But I want it today." Jess said.

"Come on Jess. Ambers waiting." He said trying to take her hand.

"I'm not coming unless I can keep the doll."

"Sorry Jess but you have to." Never apologise, it's a sign of weakness.

Then Jess played the trump card. "I'll scream!"

Amber had come to find them and to see what was keeping them. She looked from Jimmy who was standing firmly and Jess who had a death grip on a doll in a box with really long hair. After quickly assessing the situation, she said. Put the doll down now Jess, we have to go."

"I want this dolly and Jimmy won't get it for me." Jess said still holding tight to the doll. This is ridiculous Amber thought. This kid is six. They were in control here. She tried to pull the doll from Jess's arms. "I'll scream." She said seriously.

Calling her bluff, Amber said "Go ahead then scream."

Accepting the challenge as Amber finally wrestled the doll away from her, Jess opened her mouth and let out a blood curdling scream. Jimmy looked at Amber with indecision etched all over his face she shook her head. The only other avenue was escape, so Jimmy picked Jess up and they made a beeline for the exit with every eye in the store on them. They made it out of the store but Jess was screaming so loud for her Mommy and Daddy that the store must have called security. As the three were nearly at the exit of the mall they were stopped.

"Is this your child?" The guard asked.

"Well......" Jimmy's explanation was drowned out by Jess Screaming very loudly. "He's not my Daddy, I want my Daddy. Please take me to my Daddy!"

Amber also tried to explain but it was too late.

"I'm going to have to ask you to come with us while we sort this out." He said.  
"But we were just......We wouldn't let her...."Amber tried to say.

"We'll be able to sort all of this out upstairs." The security guard said.

Upstairs the man was asking Jess questions. "What's your name sweetheart?" the man asked.

"Jess." She said.

"Jess? What's your second name?"

"McGee." She said

"And this is not your Daddy?"he said pointing to Jimmy.

"No."

"Or your Mommy."he said pointing towards Amber.

"No."

"Are you supposed to be with them?"

Jess looked first at Jimmy and then at Amber, when she remembered them pulling the dolly away from her tears came to her eyes. "They were mean to me."

"They were mean to you?"

"He picked me up and tried to take me out of the store." She said pointing at Jimmy. "And she helped Him."

"Oh God! It's not the way she's making it sound. Look, if you just ring NCIS, and ask for Timothy McGee? He'll be able to clear this right up."

"What's NCIS?"

"It stands for Naval Criminal Investigative Services. I work there and so does her father."

The Security guard picked up the phone and dialled. Turning his chair around when he actually started talking.

"You are in so much trouble when your Mommy and Daddy find out about this." Jimmy said.

"You're already in trouble." Jess answered poking out her tongue. "You shoulda just let me have the doll."

"You little......"

"Kiddies......" Amber then reverting to pig latin in desperation " Erewhay inay enoughway oubltray alreadyway!"

"Yep." Jimmy said narrowing his eyes at Jess.

In the bullpen, Abby was sitting on Tim's desk swinging her legs. "They've been gone quite a while." Tim said.

"I know. Jimmy's not answering his cell and neither is Amber."Abby said worriedly.

"We could do a trace?" Tim said.  
"Do it Timmy."Abby said.

"Has them at the mall still. What could be taking them so long?" Tim raised his eyebrows.

"They must have had some shopping to do." Abby said, pacing now and trying to convince herself as much as anyone else. "Cause It's not like Jimmy to go over his lunch hour. Unless ...." Just then Tim's phone rang.

"Yes, She's my daughter........ and yes she is supposed to be with them...........Jimmy Palmer. .....I'll be right there."

"WHAT!?" Abby said as soon as he was off the phone.

"They caught Jimmy and Amber trying to leave the mall with a little girl who was screaming that she wanted her Mommy and Daddy. She told them that they tried to take her from the toy store and that they were mean to her. I have to go down there to the security office. They want to see some id before they'll release them. other wise they'll call the cops."

"I'll come with you McGee." Gibbs said.

"Ohhhh Can't I come boss. I miss all the fun." Tony whined and then flinched from the whack Gibbs gave him in the back of his head.

"What are you Dinozzo twelve?" Gibbs said already on his way to the elevator.

"What do you think happened boss?" Tim asked Gibbs.

"I think you can imagine what happened Tim."

"Am I even on the right track with this little girl? She acts so spoiled and yet....well she's been the complete opposite of spoiled. She was neglected. Now when she has practically anything she wants she's still acting out."

"She's had lots of different people come in and out of her life Tim. She has a stable and loving home with you and Abby now but she still has a lot of new people in her life. She's smart Tim. She's just trying them all out is all, to see what she can get away with." He patted him on the shoulder. "You're doing good Tim. Don't worry so much."

In the bullpen Abby was pacing. "This is all my fault. I shouldn't have let her go with Jimmy, I know what a handful she can be."

"Abby, if you repeat this I will kill you, but the Autopsy Gremlin? He's Ok. AND, he's an adult. I'm sure whatever happened, he's got it all under control." Tony said pulling Abby into a hug.

"That is right Abby, just because the mall security rang, doesn't mean there is trouble."

"NOT HELPING there Zi-va!" Tony said rolling his eyes.

Taking the hint, Ziva said "Well maybe some little, LITTLE thing but really. What could happen at the mall with a six year old little girl? It will be nothing Abby. Do not worry so. Anyway, Gibbs will sort it out."

"Yeh. I just hope they don't kill anybody before they get back here." Abby said.

"I really have to know what happened before anybody gets killed." Tony said ducking a head slap from Abby but not the punch he got in the arm.

At the mall, Tim and Gibbs got to the security room without any trouble. Tim explained about Jimmy having permission to take Jess to lunch and the security guard told him what had happened from his point of view and the guard told him that he just had to fill out some paperwork and it wouldn't be very long until they were all free to go.

While Tim had been talking to security, Gibbs was finding out from the others exactly what had happened. Jimmy explained about her running off into the store and hanging on to the doll and threatening to scream and the rest of the story until they ended up in the security office.

Jess was listening to all this but was getting even madder at Jimmy. He was making it sound like it was all her fault. She looked at Amber sadly. She thought that Amber was her friend. But She was nodding and agreeing with Jimmy. A tear ran Jess's face. Now she was gonna be in trouble again and all she wanted was a Bratz doll. Maddie had all the Bratz dolls and she didn't have any. And worst of all Amber didn't like her anymore, because of that Jimmy. Jess was mad. Really mad. When Gibbs got up to talk to her Daddy she looked over at Jimmy. She was gonna get a spanking anyways she may as well, she jumped off her chair and ran across the room and kicked Jimmy in his leg. Jimmy made a noise that sounded like Rex barking. Then Gibbs and her Daddy turned around. They were really mad now. She hated that dumb Jimmy. Making her mad enough to kick him.

Tim thanked the guard and then picked Jess up and scowled at her as he stalked towards the exit of the mall to the car park. Jimmy and Amber decided to walk back. Tim didn't blame them. He got Jess settled with her seat belt and then climbed into the passenger seat. "That was very very naughty Jess."

"Which thing?" she said innocently.

"All of them. Especially kicking Jimmy. We've talked about you kicking before haven't we? Do you want a spanking?"

"You mean I don't have to have one?"

"Yes you do."

Jess sighed. Well why ask me then she thought. Adults don't make any sense.

"Jimmy took you to lunch to do a nice thing Jess and you were mean to him and to Amber."

"They were mean to me. I just wanted a doll."

"Mommy told Jimmy no treats."

"But I don't have one of those dolls. Maddie has lots.I needed it. It's not a treat if you need something."

"Enough Jess." Tim said.

"But...."

"Hey!" Gibbs yelled. "Daddy said enough." Jess folded her arms and pouted but at least she was quiet. She lifted her leg to kick the seat but looked at the back of Gibbs head and changed her mind.

TBC

Sorry to leave it there but I ran out of time. Enjoy :)


	16. Chapter 16

Thank you all again for your lovely reviews and alerts. Same thing again but it really does help to know what your thinking. Most of you anyway. LOL :)

Chapter 16

Tim looked in the rear vision mirror at Jess. What the hell were they gonna do with her this time he thought. Six swats just didn't seem like enough for this. She had nearly gotten Jimmy and Amber arrested. Then she blamed Jimmy, and kicked him, after all that. He was really felt at a loss here. He would have to talk to Abby. Maybe he was missing something. Abby seemed to be able to see through Jess a bit more maybe because she's a girl. She might know what to do.

When they walked back into the bullpen, sensing that Tim needed to be with Abby, Gibbs took Jess's hand. "Come on." he sad. "We're gonna go to another room while Mommy and Daddy talk for a minute."

"No!" Jess shouted. She didn't want to go with Gibbs. She wanted to stay and tell her Mommy about Jimmy being mean to her.

Tim went to come over and help but Gibbs put his hand up to stop him.

"Stay and talk to Abby. If I can handle hardened criminals I think I can manage one small girl."

Gibbs just kept walking with a firm grip on Jess's hand, ignoring her trying to pull away and her yelling. "Let me go! Let me go!" Then she sat down with her arms folded and a big pout on her face. Gibbs didn't want to hurt her by dragging her so he picked her up. She put her arms around his neck and for a second he thought she was hugging him, until he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder.

"Jessica McGee!" He said slapping her bottom hard. He couldn't believe she'd actually bitten him. "Ok. Now your in trouble." He said stalking into one of the interrogation rooms. He sat on a chair and stood her in front of him.

"You will not bite me or anyone else ever again!" he said dropping her over his knee and bringing his hand down on her bottom hard. He continued spanking her bottom until he thought she'd had enough. He didn't spank her as hard as he would've if she was older but it was hard enough for her to get the message. By the time he stood her up she was crying, her hands flying back to her burning rear end.

She probably shouldn't have done that but she wanted to see her Mommy. "I just wanted to talk to my Mommy." She sobbed.

"And you will. When she's finished talking with Daddy." Gibbs said pulling her into a hug. "Jess, you have to understand that you are not in charge." He sat her on his knee and made her look at him. "You know you're still in trouble with Mommy and Daddy for what you did to Jimmy and Amber. That little spanking was just for biting."

"I know. But I just wanted the doll. I needed it. I don't have one. Mommy said no treats but it's not a treat if you need it."

Gibbs made Jess look at him. "You know that's not true. You NEED food. You NEED water and you NEED sleep. You don't NEED a doll. You WANT one. You can't have everything WANT. And, you behaving badly is not going to get anyone to buy you a new doll."

"It's not fair." Gibbs sighed. He was starting to long for his bourbon and his boat.

"Enough."

Everyone was silent when Gibbs slapped Jess's bottom. "Did that just happen?" Tony said amazed. "Did she just bite Gibbs?"

"It did seem that way to me." Ziva said.

"Oh well you two, no need to argue about what to do with her now. Gibbs is gonna kill her." Tony said.

"Oh GOD!" Tim said. "Is she getting worse? Who the hell bites the boss?"

"We knew what we were getting Timmy. We know she's very strong willed." Abby said trying to console him. "We have our bad days....."

"Ya think?" Tim said cutting her off.

"Yeh McGee! I do, but we also have our good days! We can't give up now!"

Abby was sitting on his desk, their foreheads were touching. "This was bad though wasn't it. Really bad." Tim said.

"Timmy. She's six. It wasn't great, but I don't think we should make it more than it was. It was a six year old girl pitching a fit because she couldn't have her own way. She needs a good spanking. For throwing a tantrum on poor Jimmy and Amber and for kicking Jimmy. I must admit. I don't know what to think about the whole telling the guard that they were mean thing. Do you think she did that on purpose? I don't think she would. But she is smart. And she was mad. Really mad. Tim?"

Tim shrugged. "I honestly don't know Abs."

"I do." Amber said having just come into the bullpen with Jimmy.

"We're so sorry for all this. Both of us aren't we Timmy?" Abby said sincerely.

"We are. I don't know what to say." Tim added.

"That's fine. But back to what you were saying...." Amber started.

"Amber we don't need to ...."

"Yeh Jimmy.I think we do. They need to know. If it was my child I'd want to know. Wouldn't you?"

"I guess." Jimmy said sadly. He really didn't like being the one that would get Jess in any more trouble than she was already in.

"Will one of you tell us? Please?I mean I know this can't get much worse but at the moment i's definitely sounding like it's getting worse."

"Sorry. It's just something that she said to Jimmy. Jimmy said to Jess, 'You are going to be in so much trouble when your Mommy and Daddy find out about this.' And she said to him. 'You're already in trouble'.In that sing songy voice." And then she stuck out her tongue. And said ' You should of just got me the doll'."

"Oh well. That's pretty clear. You did the right thing telling 't they Timmy?" Abby said.

Tim put his head down. He was deep in thought.

"I'm sorry Tim." Jimmy said sadly.  
"No Jimmy! You didn't do anything wrong. Will you hang around for a while? I think a little lady is gonna have a big apology to make." Jimmy nodded. Tim took a big breath and stood up. "Oh well. May as well get it over with. Abs will you go down and get your bag from the lab please?"

"Why?" Tim looked at her intensly.

"Because I'm gonna need something that's inside it."

"!"

Tim waited for Abby to get back and then they walked down the hallway hand in hand.

Tim and Abby knocked on the door and opened it. "Hey Boss. Sorry we took so long." He said. "Um ...Boss...Did she..."

"Bite me? Yes she did. But I've already spanked her for that and she won't do it again. Will you miss?"

"No Gibbs." She said sadly.

"Good." He said smiling. He kissed the top of her head and kissed Abby on her cheek, whispering quietly "I think you've met your match there Abs."

"We'll see about that." She said eyes twinkling as she gave him a hug. "Thanks Bossman."

As soon as Gibbs closed the door,Tim picked Jess up and plopped her down on the table and stood right in front of her. "What do you think you're in the most trouble for?"

"Um.....Screaming."

"And?" Abby asked.

"And kicking Jimmy."

"And?" Abby said.

"Making Jimmy and Amber get in trouble."

"How did you do that?" Tim asked.

"The man asked me was I supposed to be with them. I shoulda outta said yes."

"Yes. You should. But I'm glad you were honest now." Abby said.

"You gonna spank me ?"

"Yep. What you did was really wrong. You could have got Jimmy in a lot of trouble." Tim said.

"That's not to mention throwing a tantrum in a store because you didn't get what you wanted." Abby said.

"And kicking Jimmy." Tim said. "I am going to spank you Jess and I'm not going to use my hand this time. I'm gonna use Mommy's hairbrush." Jess started to cry."And, we're going to be taking away your dolls again for two weeks. I want you to remember this next time you decide that it's ok to be mean to someone because you're mad." Tim looked over at Abby who slowly undid her bag and produced the brush. He didn't intend to use it very hard, it was more of a token thing to show her that he meant business. He sat in the chair and pulled Jess over his knee and lowered her jeans. Taking the brush from Abby he sighed and brought it down on her bottom. It really wasn't very hard at all but in true drama queen fashion Jess screeched and kicked. "Hold still." He said not unkindly

As he brought the brush down another three once more on each sit spot and he was finished. It really wasn't much but on top of one of Gibbs spankings it was enough to reignite the flame. Tim passed the brush back to Abby who quickly put it away before rubbing Jess's back. Jess now had her arms around Tim's neck and was crying into his chest as Abby knelt beside them comforting them both.

"I'm sorry." Jess said sobbing.

"That's good Honey because there's some people outside you're gonna have to say sorry to." Tim said.

"Jimmy and Amber?" Jess asked. Abby nodded. Jess started to cry. "There gonna be mad at me."

"Well that's a risk your gonna have to take sweetie." Abby said. "Come on. We may as well go and see them now so they can go back to work."

"OK." Jess said, taking Abby's hand.

Back in the bullpen the closer they got to Jimmy and Amber the more scared Jess got. She let go of Abby's hand and tried to hide behind her Daddy's legs.

"Come on out he said leading her by the hand when they reached Jimmy. "What do you have to say to Jimmy and Amber?"

Jess chin wobbled and she looked at her shoes. Tim tilted her chin up so she was looking at Jimmy. "I'm sorry Jimmy that I got you in trouble." she said starting to cry again. Jimmy melted at once kneeling down and gathering her up into a hug.

"That's ok. You're forgiven." He said. "And if you hadn't been in trouble I would have bought you that doll." He said as an after thought. "OW!" he said when Gibbs slapped the back of his head. "But naughty girls don't get dolls." he said trying to save. Gibbs and Amber both rolled their eyes.

Jess looked sheepishly at Amber. "I'm sorry Amber." She said. "Are you still my friend?"

"Always. But you better not try those tricks on me again missy."

"I won't I promise." Jess said sincerely. She always meant it when she said it.

"We better go now." Jimmy said to everyone. "We both have a class."

"Thanks again Jimmy." Tim said. "And we ARE really sorry."

"It's fine!" he said waving him off as he and Amber walked to the elevator."

Jess chased after Jimmy and tugged on his pants. "Yeh sweetie?" he said

"Are you still gonna buy me the doll if I'm good all next week?" she asked.

Abby ,who had followed her took her hand. "No dollies next week Jess. You're not going to be playing with your dolls either for two weeks . Remember?"

Jess looked at Abby murderously but was wise enough not to say anything. Her burning bottom still reminding her to stay silent.

That afternoon went pretty smoothly with Jess acting like a complete angel. She did her work quietly, she didn't complain. Tim was starting to relax again. Abby came up to tell them that she was going to pick Dyl up from school and bring him back for the rest of the day. They had lost so much work time, they couldn't really afford to leave early.

When Abby got back with Dyl she decided to leave him in the bullpen with Tim and take Jess down to the lab with her. The mood that Jess had been in before, she didn't think it was a great idea to leave them didn't seem to be in the best of moods either.

"Hi buddy." Tim said to Dyl. "How was your day?"

"It was great." he said quietly. Tim looked at him. It seemed like his words were saying one thing but his face was definitely saying another.

"Something wrong Dylan?" Tim said. Dylan produced a scrunched up note from his pocket and reluctantly handed it over to Tim.

Reading the note, Tim looked up at Dylan and back at the paper and read it again. "This true?" he asked. Dylan slowly nodded as he checked to see if the elevator was on that floor. Maybe he should make a run for it now!

Tony looked up from his desk. He looked at Ziva and then opened sent her an instant message.

_Just when you think the fun's over for the day...._

She sent one back saying

_Mind your own business Tony. Leave them alone._

Another from Tony

_Ziva, you've gotta admit it's funny_

When he didn't get an answer to his last message he looked up and around but it was too late. He rubbed that back of his throbbing head as Gibbs barked at him. "Get back to work. The circus is over for this afternoon."

TBC


	17. Chapter 17

Thank you again for all the wonderful reviews and alerts. I appreciate them all. Well nearly all of them. They do help me to write :)

Chapter 17

"Actually Boss, I think it's just beginning." He said smiling, looking over at Tim who was reading a piece of paper intently.

Gibbs followed Tony's eyes and his own eyes softened in sympathy when he realised the McGees had obviously been handed yet another problem. You'd need the patience of a saint he thought to himself. "Get back to work anyway Tony." He said going to sit at his own desk.

"You actually did this? Cheating!" Tim said in a stern tone.

"I did but......."

"There's NO BUTS in cheating Dylan." Tim said. "Why?"

"I didn't copy. I let Toby copy from me."

"I can read what the note says Dylan. What I asked you was why?"

"Because he didn't know the answers." Dylan said in an obvious tone. Tony chuckled and Tim and Ziva both glared at him. Gibbs threw an empty coffee cup at his head.

"Ow! What did I do?" Tony said. Gibbs glared at him. "Getting back to work now Boss." He answered himself.

"Did you know you were doing the wrong thing?"

Dylan nodded. "But he's my friend. He needed my help. You would do it to help Tony or Ziva!"  
"No, I wouldn't cheat. Even to help a friend." Tim said.

"Thanks a lot Probie!" Tony said then winced. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Dinozzo! For the last time......." Gibbs said.

"Shutting up right now Boss!" he said pretending to zip up his mouth and throw away the key.

Ziva chuckled at him. Gibbs glared at her. "DAMN! Do you want to stand in the corner? You're acting like a bunch of five year olds. What the hell do I have to do to get some work done around here?"

"Sorry Boss." Tim said passing Dylan a piece of paper and a pencil. "Sit down over there and

write out one hundred times. 'I know better than to cheat. Even to help a friend'. We'll take care of the rest of

your punishment at home."

"That's too much!" Dylan said. "It's gonna take me forever to do that. This sucks!" he pouted.

"Do you want to cut straight to the spanking part?" Tim said glaring at him.

"No!." he said.

"Well you're on thin ice Dylan. Get cracking!" he said.

Gibbs looked pointedly at Tony who covered his mouth and went back to his paper work.

Down in the lab Abby was doing her work and talking to Jess at the same time who was spinning on Abby's chair. "Mommy can I go to dance class?"

Abby looked at her. "You mean like Ballet?"

"Yeh like ballet. Maddie goes to dance class. But she does lots of things there. Singing, dancing, tap. She's gonna be in a pagett."

I should have known Maddie would have something to do with this, Abby thought. She had to smile though. She could see Maddie in a pageant. She could see Maddie's Mom being backstage even more. "I don't see why not. I'll look into it ok?"

"Ok. Could I be in a pagett too?"

"The word is pageant. And no. You can't be in a pageant."

"Why not?" Jess said pouting.  
Abby would have liked nothing better than to tell her why not but she went for the short version that was G rated instead. "Because I said No."

"But I want to."

"No means NO Jess. But you can go to dance class."

"Mommy I'm hungry."

"Well let's do something about that. How about an apple? I'll cut it up for you?"

"Ok Mommy." She said docilely. Abby looked at her. Mmmm. That went a smoother than she expected. No begging for cookies or......"

"So if i ask Daddy and he says yes? About the pagett?"

"If you ask Daddy, he'll say the same as me." Abby said smiling.

Hmmmff! She huffed folding her arms. "Then I don't want the stupid apple."

"Suit yourself."Abby said. Putting it back in the fridge.

"But I'm hungry."

Losing patience now Abby stopped the chair from spinning. "Do you want the apple or not?"

"Not. I want something else."

"That's it! It's an apple or nothing."

"Nothing."

"Fine!"

"Fine!" Abby turned back to the fridge and Jess poked her tongue out. Of course Abby could see her reflection in the glass. "Do....you.....really.....want....another spanking?"

"Nope. I don't!"

"Then I suggest you don't push it."

"Can I spin it?" Jess said cockily, starting to spin the chair again. Abby narrowed her eyes at her. How did a six year old get to be such a smart ass she thought.

Later that night when the kids were all doing homework and they were cooking dinner Abby and Tim were talking. "I still can't believe that he was cheating. I mean Dylan's no angel but still. At least it wasn't as bad as if he was the one that had copied the work. I mean, he shouldn't have done it but ......." Tim just stared at Abby incredulously.

"Abby McGee! I can't believe you just said that. Of course it's as bad! Cheating is cheating."

"Well......not really!" she said smiling "There's cheating and there's cheating."

"No Abby there's not."

"In your opinion."

"In most people's opinion."

"Says you McGee!"

Tim shook his head at her. " I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when you were a kid. I suppose you actually did that too didn't you?"

"Maybe." She grinned. Tim raised his eyebrows. "Oh alright! I did it. A lot! Satisfied?"

"Not yet!" he said rounding on her with a twisted dish towel.

"Hey!Your not gonna get me with that thing. You'll have to catch me first."

Abby tried to grab the towel but Tim didn't let go. He just pulled her towards him and into his arms.

"Didn't you ever get in trouble for that CHEATING?"

Abby shrugged grinning. "Never got caught. You weren't the only brilliant child McGee." She said giggling. "And my friends loved me."

Tim wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Never too late to right a wrong." He said picking up a wooden spoon.  
"You better put that thing down McGee." Abby said backing away.

"Oh no!" he said grinning. "It's definitely my job to see that you set a good example for our children."

"OH REALLY!" she said huskily. "And you think you're up to the job?"

"Oh definitely! I know I am!" he said grabbing her and bending her over the bench.

"Mommy!!!" Jess shouted shocked. "Is Daddy gonna spank you? What did you do?" Tim paused with the spoon in mid air and looked from it to Abby and back to Jess and finally settled on Sarah who was standing trying not to laugh in the doorway.

"Tim?! She said in exaggerated shock. "Were you gonna spank Abby?!"

The look he gave her told her she'd better to watch out for her own butt. "Uh.....Mommy and I........we were playing a game." He said.

"That's RIGHT. What was the name of that game again Timmy?" Abby said with laughter in her voice.

"Um ....it was called ........ 'Your goose is cooked'." He said giving Abby a glare which made her laugh out loud.

"Can I play?" Jess asked.

"No it's just a game for two people and Mommy and I are gonna save it for later." Tim said putting the spoon back. "Did you finish your homework?" he asked.

"Yep. Sarah helped me." Tim looked at Sarah who put her hands up.

"All I did was watch and point. I swear. NO CHEATING!" she said in an exaggerated fashion. "Speaking of which. One of you should go and talk to Dylan. He's starting to stress out up there."

"I'll go." Abby said smiling. She was really just teasing Tim.

"No. I don't think that would be such a great idea." He said returning her smile. "You need to learn more about cheating yourself first before you impart any helpful information on to anybody else."

Abby's only answer was a wiggle of her eyebrows.

"Games on!" he said kissing her neck before he went up stairs.

Tim opened Dylan's door. He could see that he was nervous. "Talk to me." He said.

"Well....Toby didn't study the words this week and..."

"Why? Why didn't Toby study his words?"

"Because he got a new DS game and his Dad was away and his Mom was too busy to check."

"Oh. So do you think that it was fair that you got to do your homework every night and Toby got to play games?"

"Not really."

"What about all the other kids in the class who did their homework and didn't play games? Do you think it's fair if Toby gets good grades for work that he didn't do?"

"No. It was only one time."

"What if he asked you to do it again?"

"He's my friend."

"Then he'll understand when you tell him that you're never going to do that again. Ever. That's your punishment. One time offer. Seeing as how you have detention after school for three days and I already made you write lines. All you have to do now is phone Toby and tell him that you are never going to cheat for him again."

"But..."

"But nothing. Do it." Tim said handing him his cell.

Dylan made the call and was surprised that he actually felt better after he'd done it. Toby wasn't mad at all. He had his own trouble to worry about.

"Good boy. Now like I said, One time offer. You ever cheat again and I don't care if you're showing the answers or copying them. You won't like what happens. OK?"

"I promise. Dyl said throwing his arms around Tim's neck. I love you Dad."

"I love you too Dyl."

After dinner Tony and Ziva and Jimmy and Amber came over for dessert and a game of cards. When they arrived it was Jess who went to the door. "Hi!" she said sweetly grabbing hold of Amber's hand. She looked like an angel in her pink pyjamas and with her long golden hair all brushed out. It was hard to believe that it was this same child who had caused such havoc that afternoon.

Tony went into the kitchen to put some beers in the fridge. "Hey McMommy and McDaddy!" he said. "Safe to come in yet?"

"Yes, everything's fine." Tim said smiling. "You wanna go set up the table? We can have dessert in the living room first."

"Yeh sure."

Tony was covering the table with the felt for their card game when a little hand pulled on his jeans. "Whatcha doin?" Jess said.

"I'm just fixing up the table so that all the adults can play a game."

"Is it the game Mommy and Daddy were playing?" Jess asked innocently.

Tony grinned widely. He could sniff a story out from a mile away. "I don't know sweetie. What game were Mommy and Daddy playing?"

"I don't think it will be that because Daddy said it was a game for only two people and they were gonna save it for later."

Tony chuckled. "Oh. Do tell. I wonder if I've played that game before."

"Maybe. Do you have a big wooden spoon?"

"Mmhmm."

"I think Daddy said it was called 'Your goose is cooked'."

"Thank you Jess. You've been very helpful."

"What did I do?" she asked curiously.  
"More than you'll ever know." he said kissing the top of her head. "More than you'll ever know."

Tony knew he would have to wait for the perfectly timed moment to let this little snippet out. So he waited patiently. And waited. Through dessert, through the first card game. Even through the second card game until......

"Wanna play something different?" Abby asked as her husband took a swig of his beer.

"There's a new game I wouldn't mind trying." Tony said innocently. "What's it called? Oh yeh 'Your goose is cooked'." He said, cackling gleefully. Tim spat his beer all over the table and the others just looked on curiously. It was obviously an inside joke. Abby just packed up the beer soaked felt with a twinkle in her eye.

Tim fixed Abby with a stare as she innocently declared "It wasn't me!" With a smile that meant that she wished it was her. She high five'd Tony with a chuckle.

"I have never heard of that game." Ziva said.

Abby really couldn't stop the giggles now. "You want me to demonstrate the game Abby?" Tim asked rising to get the spoon. She pushed him back down in his chair.

"I'm good. Thanks. I'll stop. I promise." She said pressing her lips together.

"Come on! Jimmy said you have to give us some idea of what's going 're killing me here."

Abby looked at Tim and nodded.

"Abby and I were in the kitchen playing around. We were talking about cheating and she admitted to having given people answers when she was young. She also said she was too smart to get caught. I was going to spank her playfully with a spoon when Jess and Sarah caught us. I told them we were playing a game called....."

"Your goose is cooked!" they all finished for him. "Ahhhh!" they all said as the penny dropped.

"You did that Abby?" Jimmy said. "I'm a bit surprised."

"I'm not." Tony said. "I'm not surprised that you're surprised though Palmer."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jimmy said.

"Well.....it means.....that you're not the naughty boy type. You would have been like McGoody two shoes."

"I resent that." Tim said indignantly.

"No offence man. I meant goody two shoes in the coolest possible way." Tony said. "It's just that some of us......break rules. And ..." he looked at Jimmy. "Some of us don't"

"I broke some rules when I was younger." Jimmy said.

"Name your worst one." Tony said.

"Are we talking at school or at home?"

"School." Tony said.

"Ok.....there was this annoying little girl who used to call me four eyes. She had really long hair. When we were having story time and she was listening to the teacher, I cut off one of her braids."

"What happened to you?" Amber said shocked.

"I got paddled at school and then spanked again when I got home."

"Was it worth it?" Abby said.

"No. I actually felt really bad the next day she had to have her hair cut short to match the side that I'd cut." He said.

"Your turn Tony." Jimmy said.

"Ok. I snuck in the classroom early one morning and got all the English text books and glued the pages together. So when the teacher passed them out and said open your books to page 33. None of them would open."

"Tony!" Ziva said. "You were a bad boy."

"What happened to you Tony?" Abby asked.

"My father paid for new books and it all went away."

"Did he spank you?" Tim asked.

"Na....never mentioned it. I honestly don't think he even cared."

"Ziva?" Tony said.

"Nothing. Sorry I have nothing." She said. "Tim?"

" I hadn't done my Maths homework so I did it in English when I was supposed to be reading." He said.

"That's it?" Tony said. "You must of almost been expelled for THAT McGee."

"So sue me. I liked to do the right thing. Anyway I did get a detention." Tim said.

Abby tried really hard not to had spent a lot of her time in detention.

"I really have to show you how to have a good time. Loosen up." Tony said.

Tim ignored him. "Amber? I believe it's your turn?"

"I once snuck into the teachers lounge and put foaming sugar into the sugar bowl."

"You're joking." Jimmy said smiling. "What happened?"

"The hall monitor saw me and tattled. I got detention for a week and a letter sent home."

"Did you get spanked or grounded?" Tony asked.

"Nope. Forged my Mom's signature and never got caught." She smiled. Abby high five'd her and said "See Timmy? I wasn't the only one who got away with things."

Tim shook his head grinning.

Later that night when Tim opened the bedroom door he got quite a surprise. There sprawled out on the bed was his Abby wearing a black lace corset,matching thong and a very big smile. Surrounding her were some of her favourite toys.

"Oh Abs!" Tim said. "More New York stuff?"

"I believe you had a bone to pick with me Timmy?" Abby said cheekily.

"Well, I was ready to play 'Your goose is cooked'! he said producing the wooden spoon. But I think your game looks a lot more fun!" he said grinning as he sat on the bed.

"Oh it will be!" Abby said climbing up into his lap and capturing his mouth with her own.

TBC


	18. Chapter 18

Thankyou for all your lovely alerts and reviews. I am so happy that this story has been so well received.I hope you continue to read and review.I love to hear from you :)

I'd like to thank 'Gibbsfan' for helping me with some new ideas regarding Gibbs :)

Chapter 18

The next morning, While they lay in bed, Abby was telling Tim about Jess wanting to go to dance class. "I think it might be good for her." she said.

"I have absolutely nothing against her going to dance class, but it does worry me a bit that Maddie is going to be there as well. I don't think she really that great an influence on Jess."

"Yeh know but Maddie being there is one of the appeals for Jess. Oh, by the way,I forgot to tell you. Maddie is gonna be in a pageant." She said giggling at the look on Tim's face.

"We are NOT going to do that. I draw the line at pageants. I don't want to see Jess all dressed up like a harlot with a face full of make up and a wig."

"She won't need to get a wig Timmy! Her hair is plenty long enough, we'll just have to take her to have it DONE is all." Abby teased.

"Abby! You're not serious. You can't possibly want to parade our daughter....."

"Calm down Timmy! I was just teasing you. And what kind of word is 'harlot' any way? When was the last time you heard anyone called a harlot that wasn't in a period romance? You don't read period romances in secret do you Timmy?"

"Oh you're just full of it today aren't you Abs?" he said tickling her. Might I remind you that we haven't packed away the remnants of last night ? I'm sure I could find something here to........"

" I'm good." she said giggling as she jumped out of bed. "Work awaits Timmy. I'm gonna jump in the shower."

"Feel like some company?"

"Always." She said with a grin.

Over breakfast Jess started her campaign for a beauty pageant with Tim. "Daddy, Mommy said I can go to dance class."

"Well, you're a lucky girl then aren't you." Tim said smiling.

"Yep and Maddie's gonna be there." Jess said.

"Wow Jess! Another plus." Tim said still smiling trying to hide his sarcasm.

"But Maddie's lucky." Here it comes.

"Why's that Jess?" he asked.

" 'Cause she's gonna be in a paggett." Jess said looking at him hopefully. Abby stared at Tim for a moment scared that he was gonna cave. "I wish I could be in a paggett." Tim looked at Abby. This was actually harder that he thought it would be.

"Sorry sweetie but it's yes to the dancing but no to the pageant."

"Whyyy." She whined.

"Because I said no, and no means no." Tim said squeezing her hand.

Jess folded her arms and pouted but didn't mention it again. Everyone else got on with their breakfast and didn't pay any attention to the pouting and the subject was soon forgotten. At least for now.

At work it was agreed that Abby would keep Jess down in the lab that day. They really needed to get some work done. There had been too many distraction lately because of the McGee crew and they were going to try and keep things as normal as possible. Jess was pretty good for the most part and was excited when Abby made the phone call to enrol her in the dance class. She was gonna start the next day.

Around lunch time, Gibbs surprised Abby when he came into the lab by offering to take Jess to lunch. "Um......that would be nice Gibbs but....."

"But what Abs?" he said with a smile. "You don't think I can handle her?"

"No....it's not that, well it is kind of that. I mean I KNOW you can manage her, it's just. Last time she went to the mall it didn't end well and I've got to take her to get the dance stuff anyway......."

"Look. I can cope Abby. You could probably use a break to concentrate on what you're doing or to go to lunch yourself or something and after yesterday I...after I spanked her, I'd like to have lunch and have a little bit of fun with her."

Abby smiled and kissed his cheek. "You really are an old softie aren't you."

"I'm not an old anything." he said with a mock glare.

"Ok then. But not too much fun Bossman. Remember she's in trouble."

"You don't have to tell me Abs!" he said. "What stuff does she need for this dance class?"

"Um...you sure you wanna go shopping for that stuff?"

"I want to." He said.

"Fine then." She said with a smile. "You don't need a list. Just go to this store on the third level, and give them this name." she said jotting down the name of the dance school on a piece of paper. They'll fit her and give you what ever she'll need. But you'll have to go and get Tim's credit card. Mine doesn't have a very high limit." She said.

"I wonder why that would be Abs?" he grinned. "Don't worry about it. I got it covered."

"No Gibbs. That's too much. You don't have to do that."

"Abby I'd like to..........It's been a while...but...look. Please just let me do this."

She kissed his cheek again with tears in her eyes suddenly realising why he wanted to do this. "Enjoy." She said.

"Come on Jess." He said "Let's go get you some dancing gear."

"Alright!" she said jumping up and grabbing his hand.

Abby walked into the bullpen and plopped onto Tim's desk. "Where's Jess?" he said looking around.

"Gibb's has taken her to lunch and he's gonna get her dancing stuff." She said quietly.

"Shopping? He's taken her shopping?" Tim asked amazed. "Oh God! I hope she behaves."

Abby shrugged. "He said he can manage. I'm sure he can." She said tears springing to her eyes again.

"Hey Abs! What's wrong?" he said pulling her into his lap.

"I don't know." She said. "Gibbs REALLY wanted to take Jess, like then he said, well he didn't really say but he kind of said that it had been a while and it just dawned on me that it had something to do with Kelly.I think he's lonely. It made me feel kind of sad."

"Wow." He said hugging her tighter. "That is sad."

"You know what Timmy?"

"No Abs what?" he said happier now that her face had brightened.

"I think Gibbs needs to get married again. He's not too old to have more children you know."

"I know he's not." He said making her look at him "BUT and it's a big but, you are not going to match make."

"Well not by myself I'm not."

"Not at all. Abby look at me. Do I have to make You write lines. 'I will not play match maker for Gibbs'."

"I'd like to see you make that happen." She said cheekily.

Tim sighed. She's gonna do it, he thought. She is gonna play match maker, I can see it in her eyes and it won't end well. He looked around the bullpen. I wonder how many people she's gonna take down with her.

"Ziva ? Wanna see if Amber wants to have lunch with us?" she said brightly. There's the first two. He thought.

"Yes of course. But why?"

"Do I have to have a reason?"

"No. You do not have to have a reason but you usually do." Tony watched on anxiously. He also knew that look on Abby's face. As Ziva kissed him goodbye he pulled her close.

"Whatever scheme she's cooking up? Stay out of ." He whispered.

"There is no scheme." Ziva said.

When they'd left Tony was over at Tim's desk in a flash. "What is your wife up to now?" he said bluntly.

"Uh......pretty sure it has something to do with setting Gibbs up. She thinks he should get married again and have kids."

"Oh God! What do you think they're gonna do?"

"Don't think they know yet. My guess is they're still rounding up the troops. Keep your eyes and your ears open . That's all I can suggest."

At lunch Ziva and Amber were in total agreement about Gibbs needing to settle down and have a family of his own. "He would make such a wonderful Daddy." Abby said.

"Well who do we know?" Ziva asked.

"I don't really know anyone that's available in his age group." Amber said.

"Me either." Ziva said. "What about you Abby? Anyone in mind?"

"Not really. But all we can do is keep alert for anyone that we meet that has potential."

At the mall Jess was a perfect angel. Her spanking from Gibbs was still fresh enough in her mind to be a deterrent besides she was getting dance stuff. She skipped happily beside Gibbs holding his hand. Until they were inside the store, and then all of a sudden she screeched and pulled away from Gibbs hand. "Maddie!!!" she exclaimed happily.

"Jess!!!" Maddie yelled happily. They both jumped up and down holding hands.

"Gibbs is getting my slippers and leotard so I can do dance class tomorrow." Jess told her excitedly.

"My Mommy is too." Maddie said "And then we're going to the movies and the toy store. Wanna come with us?"

Jess looked at Gibbs. "Jess. You know that's not gonna happen. You're in trouble."

"Hello!" Maddie's Mom said offering her hand to Gibbs. "I'm Kimberly Broadbent. I'm Maddie's mother and you are?"

"Jethro." He said briefly taking her hand.  
"Jethro. Maddie would really like Jess to accompany us to the movies......"

"Jess is in trouble............wait, isn't Maddie in trouble too?"

"Well she IS suspended but it's just a token thing really." She lowered her voice. "They're six. It was a bit of an over reaction. Don't you think?"

"No! I don't really know if you're ready to hear what I really think but Jess won't be going to the movies. SHE is in trouble for trying to get another INNOCENT child in trouble."

"You're mean!!" Maddie pouted. "I want her to come, Mommy!" she said stomping her foot.

Kimberly took one look at Gibb's face and knew that it was pointless. "Maddie. I'm sorry sweetie, but she's not allowed to come."

"I SAID I WANT HER TO COME!!!" Maddie said jumping up and down with her face bright red. Kimberly looked totally panicked. "Is there any way you would......"

"Not a hope in hell. And if you want some advice? This little girl needs a trip to the woodshed before she needs a trip to the movies." Maddie poked her tongue out at Gibbs.

Kimberly narrowed her eyes. "You don't know anything about us. Maddie has special needs."

Gibbs grinned "I can see that." He said watching Maddie dance up and down in temper. "I can see exactly what you both need. I just don't know which one of you needs it more."

"Well!! Come on Maddie we'll miss the movie." She said.

Gibbs bought Jess the things that she needed and then they sat and had lunch. "Maddie was bein a bit naughty wasn't she?" Jess said.

"You could say that."

"I just did." Gibbs smiled. "You understand why you couldn't go to the movies with them Don't you?"

"I wanted to go."

"I know. But you were a very good girl not to throw a tantrum like Maddie. I'm gonna tell your Mommy and Daddy about that and they'll be very happy."

"Really?"

"Really." He said. "Ok. Maybe we should go back now and you can show everyone your new ballet slippers."

"Yay! I love you Gibbs." She said.

"I love you too Jess." He said smiling at her, thinking about another little girl he had taken once to get ballet slippers.

As Gibbs and Jess were walking out of the exit, Gibbs caught sight of Maddie throwing yet another tantrum. Or maybe it was the same to tell. Kimberly looked like she was about to cry herself as she offered Maddie one thing after another to try and appease her. Gibbs shook his head. Where the hell is her husband? He thought. Those two are definitely out of control.

Back at NCIS, Jess proudly modelled her new dance leotard and slippers. "Thanks Boss." Tim said.

"Yeh thanks Bossman." Abby said kissing his cheek.

"Ah.....it was nothing. She was really good. Guess who I met though. Kimberly Broadbent."

"Maddie's mother?" They said in unison.

"Yep. AND Maddie." He rolled his eyes. "If ever two females needed a butt warming they do. Both of them. I don't know who's worse."

Abby giggled.

"She wanted Jess to go to the movies and Maddie pitched an absolute fit because I said no. So this Kimberly, tried to talk me into it. We did all this shopping and she was still jumping up and down screaming when we left." He said disgusted.

"Maddie or her Mom?" Abbie said smirking. Gibbs stared at her.

"Maddie! Although I don't think Kimberly was far behind. Stupid woman." He said. "I'm going for coffee." He said and strode to the elevator.

"Really!!!" Abby said as he walked away. When he was gone Abby swung around to Tim. When we've been picking up the kids Tim, have you ever seen Maddie's Dad?"

"I don't think so." Tim said sceptically.

"I better go back down to my lab I have something to do. Do you want me to take Jess?"

"Ah..........no she's fine and what are you up to?"

"Nothing to worry about Timmy." She said quickly trying to get away.

"Not so fast. Define nothing. What exactly are you going to do?"

"Just see if I can find out some more about Maddie's family. The girls are friends. We should be informed."

"Abby please. Don't even think about going there."

"I don't know what you mean Timmy." She said innocently, her head tilted to the side.

"OH you know. But just so you're clear, I'll lay it out for you. If you find that there is NO Mr Broadbent, absolutely NO fixing Gibbs up. I do NOT want to spend every Sunday and every family function with that woman and her demon child." He shook his head. He could already see the cogs of Abby's brain turning. "Are you listening to me?"

"I get it Timmy. YOU HAVE SPOKEN!!!" she said. "Got it Sir!" she said saluting.

"Mmm I don't think you have, but you will Abby and that's a promise."

As Abby walked away she recited in her head Rule 18. Rule 18. Rule 18. When she was safely in the elevator she smiled. "It'll be worth it to see Gibbs happy!" she said out loud to herself.

TBC


	19. Chapter 19

Thankyou all for your lovely reviews and alerts. I really appreciate them all. The more you all review the easier it is for me to come up with the next part of the story :)

Thankyou again Gibbsfan :)

Chapter 19

Staring at the results on her computer, Abby smiled. "Well, well, well. We have a match!" she said pigtails bobbing.

"Have a match for what Abs? I thought you were just doing inventory." Gibbs said as he handed her a caf-pow.

"Oh nothing. Just .........."

Gibbs squints at the computer trying to see what's on it without his glasses. "Abby is that who I think it is?"

"Um yeh. I know I'm not supposed to look up personal stuff, but......."

"What's it say about her?"

"Husband was a Marine Sergeant. Killed in action two years ago."

Gibbs blinked. "Explains a lot." He said drinking his coffee and staring at the screen that he couldn't really see.

"Must be hard, raising a little girl all by your self." Abby said watching his face.

Gibbs nodded. "Hard to tell Abs, who is raising who."

"MMmmm. Guess so." she answered slowly.

Gibbs kissed the top of her head. "Get on with your work Abby. And stop....." he waved his hand in front of the computer monitor, "doing this."

When he had gone and the elevator door closed, Abby jumped up and down and clapped her hands. He was interested in her. She could see it in his eyes and feel it in her gut! Picking up her phone she rang Ziva. "We need an emergency meeting." she said.

"We do?.......oh really! That is interesting.........No you better call her........" she switched to whispering. "Too many people in here that are eaves droppers. Mhmm. I will see you soon."

Tony and Tim exchanged glances. Obviously her whispering wasn't quiet enough.

"I am just going to drop this paper work down to Abby's lab." Ziva said.

"Yeh sure you are. Come on Zi ...spill." Tony said.

"Spill what Tony? I do not have anything to spill."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. And don't do that."

"Don't do what?"

"That!"

"What?"

"That thing that you do. When I want to know something and you don't want to tell me you go all exotically foreign and pretend that you can't understand anything I'm saying."

"I don't know what you mean."

"See?"

"No. I don't see. I am going down to the lab." She said as she stalked away. He didn't see the little grin she was hiding as she disappeared into the elevator.

After she'd gone Tony came over to Tim's desk. He was typing away at a hundred miles a minute as usual. But it wasn't for a case. "What are you doing?"

"Ziva just got good news from Abby, I'd say," he said grinning. "I'm just checking what Abby has been doing on her computer in the last hour, since she left here." His face fell. "Just as I thought. She's been running a trace on Kimberly Broadbent! "You wanna know the even better news Tony?"

"Of course."

"She's a widow."

"What's that got to do with anything.......? Oh! They're gonna fix up Gibbs with Kimberly Broadbent.." His reaction was a bit different to Tim's though. He burst out laughing. "Tim you're looking at this all wrong. You're so stitched up sometimes, you forget to just sit back and enjoy the show. She drives you crazy. I get that. She's a shrew. But this is GIBBS we're talking about here. Who better to tame the 'shrew' and her little apprentice, than Gibbs. They won't even know what hit them. Jess gets to keep her friend. Her friend learns to behave better and so does her Mom. Who says that Gibbs doesn't need a fifth wife? Maybe Abby is right."

"Well I for one, don't wanna know about it. This will not gonna be pretty Tony. You have no idea how painful this woman is and Maddie's worse. And what about Gibbs, you think he's gonna be overjoyed about this?"

"She can't be that bad." Tony said. "Abby puts you through the wringer all the time and you don't seem to mind that."

"I love Abby and she's different. Her antics sometimes backfire on her but she means well. She CAN be a brat but she knows I'll call her on it if she goes too far. Maddie's Mom doesn't care about any one else besides her and Maddie. And what Maddie wants Maddie gets, or else. Where do you think she learned that from?"

"Oh well Probie, what's the point of arguing about it. Abby's probably already started planning. You won't be able to stop her now. May as well sit back and watch Gibbs tame the shrew. And if Gibbs gets pissed about it...it's Abby's ass that'll be in trouble. Not yours."

Tim let himself smile a little. Life was never boring, that's for sure. "Hey Jess what're you doin?" he said realising she had been very quiet. When he didn't get an answer he looked over and smiled. She had gone to sleep with her head on the desk. "I'm just gonna take her down to the lab and put her on the futon." He told Tony as he scooped up his sleeping child and headed for the elevator.

When the elevator dinged and Tim walked into the lab, the girls had been so deep in conversation with Amber also on the speaker phone that they didn't hear him approaching. When Abby finally noticed, he was nearly on top of her with Jess in her arms. She jumped off her chair like she'd been shot. She said "Hi Tim!" quite loudly so that Amber would get the message and stop talking.

"Shh!" Tim said disappearing into the office to put Jess on the futon. When he came out he was wearing a scowl. "What are you three up to?" he asked eyeing them off suspiciously.

"Nothing." Abby said just a bit too quickly. Tim narrowed his eyes at her. Abby remembered her promise about not lying and tried to make it right. "Really Tim. It's something, nothing really bad but nothing that I want to tell you just yet either. You'll have to trust me. It's a surprise."

Tilting his head, he looked directly into her eyes. "A surprise Abby or a shock."

"Do you mean to tell me after all this time I can still shock you McGee?" Abby asked grinning. Oh she was good at twisting words, he had to give her that. He might have to change tack.

He swung around to the phone where Amber was still quietly waiting on the other end of the line. "Hey Amber. Plans coming along nicely are they?"

"Hey Tim. What plans would those be?" she answered without skipping a beat.

"Ziva?"

"I do not know what you mean Tim."

"Of course you don't. he said.

"Oh well I guess I should be getting back up to the bullpen. "I'll see you later." he said to both Abby and Ziva but gave Abby a not too gentle pat on her bottom as he left.

"Hey!" she said. "What was that for. "Just a love pat Abs." he said smiling.

"Mmhff!" she huffed glaring at his retreating form. They both knew it was a reminder to stay out of trouble. But as everyone knew although Abby was a brilliant forensic scientist, when it came to staying out of trouble she was not too quick on the uptake.

So Abby's plan was in place. The others really didn't have to do anything but go along with it. Abby would befriend this Kimberly tomorrow at the first dance class and invite her to lunch on Sunday. Abby knew that Tim had said that he didn't want her there but he did say every Sunday. This was only one Sunday. It was the only day that she wouldn't have to trick Gibbs into coming. It would be really hard to get him to go out on a blind date. But this way he wouldn't see it coming. Tim was on to something, but he didn't know what. If she asked Maddie's Mom tomorrow, then it wouldn't even need to be mentioned again until Sunday. He would have forgotten all about it by then. Anyway Rule 18.

The next day after school Tim picked up Dylan while Abby took Jess along to the dance class. He was only too happy to let Abby be the one to go as sitting there with a bunch of dancing mothers was not really Tim's thing Especially when one of the dancing mothers was Maddie's mother.

When they arrived, Abby was amazed at the army of little girls all dressed up in their leotards with their hair in tight buns and their little pink ballet slippers. She shook her head. Who would have thought a couple of years ago that instead of getting ready to go to a 'plastic death' concert I'd be happily anticipating watching my little girl dance to 'the sugar plum fairy', she thought. Unfortunately that wasn't to be either. The mothers were not encouraged to watch the class. The fact that they had a rather mean looking woman on the door to herd in the children while firmly turning away all the stage mothers helped to keep them from intruding. So there was nothing for it but to plant herself on one of the chairs that were along the wall and wait.

Then she spied Maddie and her Mom. "Hi!" she said as the last of the girls including Maddie disappeared into the hall with the instructor. Maddie must of been in her element. Didn't seem to be a boy in sight that Abby could see.

"Hello. Abby isn't it?" Maddie's Mom said quietly.

"Yeh it !" Abby said curiously. Something here was hinky. This woman didn't seem to be the feisty mother bear that drove Tim nuts. "I.....I guess your friend Gibbs was it? Told you what happened yesterday in the dance supply store."

Seeing now the woman's obvious embarrassment, Abby smiled warmly and put her hand on her arm. "He kind of mentioned something."

"I thought he would. He.......Maddie....I........" she suddenly burst into tears. Abby's eyes widened. This wasn't how this was supposed to go. She awkwardly pulled her into a one armed hug as best she could from where they were sitting on the row of chairs and tried to comfort her. As much as you can really comfort a person you don't really know.

"Hey!" Abby said. Great one, she was thinking. Very profound!Think! Think! Usually you can't stop talking. There must be something you can think of to say. "Can I help Kimberly? Is it? Can I do something to help you?"she said finally.

"I'm sorry." She said as she tried to pull herself together. "I'm not usually this emotional. I think.....these last few days with Maddie......have been trying."

"I don't know what I can say. I mean I know what I want to say but I don't want to say the wrong thing. How about you try and ask me a question and I'll see if I have an answer."

Kimberly nodded. "I don't know what to do. This school is Maddie's fourth school. She doesn't get along with anybody. Jess is the first friend she's ever really had. I don't want to jeopardise that. I've tried to make her happy but nothing is ever enough. Do you think that he was right? Gibbs I mean? Do you think I've been too soft?"

Abby looked at her and then took a breath as she tried to find the right words."You think that Maddie's special and she is."

"Why do I feel a but coming on?" she said with a glimmer of a smile.

"Maddie has to learn the word no. And she has to learn that other people in the world are just as important as her. When did all this start?" Abby was pretty sure she knew the answer to this question but she wanted to make sure.

"When her father died. We were both devastated. I wanted to make her feel better. So I bought her things, I tried to ease the pain. I can't take away the pain of losing her Daddy but I can protect her from everyone sure she has nice things."

Interesting. Abby thought. It seems to be all about Maddie's pain. What about her own pain? I'd be devastated if something happened to Tim. "Look. I think you need to mix more with other people. Would you and Maddie like to come to our house for lunch on Sunday?" Abby said. She was surprised that she actually really wanted to help this woman. It wasn't just that Gibbs needed someone anymore. Now she was sure that Kimberly needed a husband and not just any husband, she needed Gibbs.

"Are you sure we wouldn't be intruding?"

"No! Of course not." Abby said putting her hands in her pockets and crossing her fingers. "Tim and I would love to have you."

"Then thankyou."

After the class, the bossy woman opened the door and let their kids out. They were all bubbly and full of excitement. Except Maddie. There was no other word for it really, Maddie was pissed! "She wouldn't let me be next to Jess." She said glaring at the teacher who had come out to explain.

"You have to understand...." the woman tried to explain but was cut off by Kimberly who when faced with yet another one of her daughter's tantrums reverted to form. "No I don't think YOU UNDERSTAND!" she said in the posh voice she kept for such occasions. "I pay a LOT of money for my daughter to learn to dance here. And I can't see, why her being next to Jess is such a problem."

"The problem is, that everyone else pays a LOT of money for their daughters to attend this dance school too. And they have a right to actually learn something. If Maddie and Jess are together, they giggle and play and they don't listen."

"But...." This time it was Kimberly who was cut off mid sentence.

"I'm sorry but I have given the girls their places. If you don't want to bring Maddie back, I will see that your money is refunded."

"Well!!!" Kimberly said. "That won't be necessary! Abby, Jess we will see you on Sunday."she said turning on her heel and waltzing away.

"Mommy!" Jess yelled excitedly. "Is Maddie and her Mommy coming to lunch on Sunday?"

Abby looked at Jess but didn't answer her straight away. Is it lying to ask a six year old to keep a secret from her Daddy? She thought.

TBC


	20. Chapter 20

Thankyou all for your lovely reviews alerts and support. I really appreciate it. I'm glad that so many people would like me to continue the story :)

Chapter 20

As they drove home Abby had to smile at Jess's incessant babbling about dance class and some recital at the end of the year and of course the topic that was sure to not be popular with Tim, Sunday with Kimberly and Maddie. She did think about asking Jess to keep her secret, but decided against it. There was wrong and there was wrong. Tim would be a bit pissed if she lied to him and he HAD promised to use his belt if she lied again. But if he ever found out that she had used one of their children to cover up a lie again, she shuddered, she probably wouldn't be sitting until Christmas. Her best bet was to try and beat Jess to Tim and tell him before Jess had the chance.

Tim had been going to pick up groceries after he collected Dylan so he had taken the family car one that they had gotten to replace the hearse when it died for the last time. Abby had taken the Porsche. When they pulled up the driveway Abby decided in order to beat Jess to the punch she wouldn't put the car in the garage she would leave it on the driveway. One of them could put it away later. As soon as the car was stopped though, Jess jumped out and ran towards the house, full of excitement. Abby tried to call out to her to tell Sarah first, but she was too quick. There was nothing for it. Abby jumped out and ran in after her. But she didn't even make it inside the house when there was a loud crash accompanied by a crunching sound. The car had rolled back down the driveway twisted a little and smashed into the front fence.

All thoughts of Kimberly and Maddie had gone straight out of her head as she stood there with her mouth hanging open. Tim came bursting out the door with the rest of the family not far behind. "FUCK!!!" was all she could think of to loudly. she knew she'd be in trouble later but on some occasions, like when you crash your husband's Porche into the front fence, it's worth it because there just isn't another word that's descriptive enough.

"What the hell happened Abby?!"Tim shouted.

"Um. I'm not really sure." She said weakly. "I was kind of in a hurry....."

"Did you use the emergency brake?!"

"I ........I'm not sure." She said, pretty sure that she didn't. Tim was already on his way down the driveway to check.

"No you didn't." Abby had tears welling in her eyes. She had ruined Tim's pride and joy. He loved that car. Seeing that she was upset, Tim jogged back up the driveway and pulled her into his arms. "Hey, it's ok. It's only a car Abby. Thank God no one was hurt. Cars can be replaced."

"Tim I need to tell you something." But before she could get the words out, Jess beat her to it.  
"Guess what Daddy? Maddie and her Mommy are coming for lunch on Sunday."

Tim gave Abby a stern glare."That's great sweetie. Now go inside and do your homework while I talk to Mommy."

"Is she gonna get a spanking for wrecking the car?"

"No Honey. Mommy's not in trouble for wrecking the car. It was an accident. Now go inside please. Sarah? Would you please...." he said motioning for her to take the kids shook her head as she herded the kids inside. Abby was gonna be in some deep shit now! she thought.

"Abby!" Tim softly admonished. Were you racing in to tell me before Jess? Is that why you forgot the emergency brake?"

Abby nodded. "I'm sorry Timmy."  
"I do need to talk to you about Kimberly."

"I know, but not out here on the driveway. I'm gonna go and call a tow truck. I'll worry about the house insurance tomorrow. Come on." he said. They walked inside together.

"I'll wait upstairs." Abby said.

"Ok." Tim said looking after her curiously. He busied himself with his phone call and then went to talk to Abby.

As he entered the bedroom he was surprised to find her standing in the corner wearing nothing but his MIT t-shirt. He went straight over and grabbed her hand pulling her over to the bed. He sat down and pulled her onto his lap. Wiping the tears from her face, he said. "What's all this about? Abs? why this get up and why did you put yourself in the corner?"

"I knew you would want to spank me."

"For the car? Abby honey, I meant what I said to Jess, it was an accident."

"And for Maddie's Mom."

"Abby, I'm not gonna spank you for that either. You told me you were up to something and you didn't want to tell me yet, I had a fair idea what that was. You didn't lie." he said kissing her temple and hugging her tighter

Abby brightened a bit. She wasn't frightened of a spanking, quite the opposite, she was feeling guilty and a spanking always takes that feeling away and she just didn't want Tim to be angry at her.

"Am I happy that Maddie and her Mom are coming to lunch? Hell no! But I'm not gonna spank you for it. You can invite anyone you like to lunch. I'll just have to deal with my discomfort myself. But then it isn't me your blind-siding here is it?"

"No." Abby said shaking her head.

"You know what you're going to have to do don't you?"

"Oh Tim do I have to?"

" 'Fraid so Abs."

"I don't want to Tim. It's gonna ruin everything."

"Abby. You are gonna go over to Gibbs's house and you're gonna tell him what Sunday is about. Got it?"

Abby scowled. "And if I won't?"

"Then I'll spank you for that. And then you'll go over there anyway even if I have to take you myself."

"There's one thing I am gonna spank you for." he said. "The word you used on the driveway Abby. In front of the kids no less. I don't know how many times I've asked you to stop with the swearing in front of the kids."

"I know."

"Stand up." He lifted the t-shirt and smacked her bare bottom a half a dozen times. Lowering her shirt he said. " I think you better put some clothes on Abs, if you drive over to Gibbs in just that shirt you might get arrested."

"Tiiim!"

"I mean it Abby. You're going. And in the future, watch your mouth or do I have to wash it out with soap?" he said tugging on one of her pigtails. He went back down to take the Lasagna out of the oven. Abby grumpily looked for something to put on.

After dinner and after the car had been towed, Tim cleared the driveway enough for them to be able to get the other car out. Abby had one more try at talking Tim out of making her go to Gibbs' house. Winding her arms around his neck and kissing him, she started to say "You know Timmy I could think of much better things to do than visiting......" Before she could finish she was spun around and sent on her way with a gently push.

"Go..." Abby poked her tongue out as she went towards the door. She turned around at the last minute and flipped him the bird as she escaped outside. Tim chuckled. "Brat!" he said to himself.

When Abby arrived at Gibbs house she parked the car out the front and just sat there for a while. She turned her music up and closed her eyes while she let the tension fade away. Slightly. Then her cell phone rang. "Abby's phone." She said into the phone.

"Where are you?" Tim's voice said.

"I'm at Gibbs' house now."

"Where at Gibbs' house exactly?"

"Outside."

"Go and get it over with Abby or do I have to call Gibbs and tell him to come and get you?"

"I'm GOING McGee! Keep your shirt on. May as well! No need to get naked in my bed tonight." She said grumpily.

"Just go and see Gibbs Abby."

"I'm locking the car door now." She said opening the door and closing it again.

"You're still inside the car Abs. I can tell by the sound."

"She flung the door open. How's the sound now Mcgee?!"

"Times up! I'm phoning Gibbs."

"No,no,no,no,NO! Don't! You win! I'm out, she said slamming the door. "Bye!"

As usual, when she got to the door, she found it unlocked. She crept inside and walked quietly through the house going towards the basement where she knew that Gibbs would be working on his boat. When she reached the top of the stairs she sat down and watched as Gibbs worked. He never looked more peaceful than he did when he was sanding the boat.

"What can I do for you Abs?" he said suddenly, startling her.

"Um.........Gibbs I....."

"You and McGee have a fight?"

"No."

"He know you're here?"

"Yep."

"I can't keep guessing Abby, you're gonna have to tell me why you're here."

"Look I don't wanna bother you I can... we can talk about this tomorrow."

"I don't think so Abs. If something was so important that you've come to visit me on your own, on a weeknight, late, then I think you better spit it out."

Abby chewed her lip but said nothing,

"Abby!" he said loudly, making her jump.

"Gibbs, Tim made me wanted me to tell you that I invited Kimberly and Maddie to lunch on Sunday. That's all. Ok then I'll be seeing you at work tomorrow..."

" Why would Tim send you to tell me that?" he could see her mind working to find the right answer. "Why Abby. The truth."

"Because I had a plan to set you up with Kimberly. You're lonely Gibbs and she needs someone to....I don't know, be there for her sort of."

Gibbs didn't say anything for a while. When he did he was clearly pissed. "Abby do you think that I'm inept when it comes to women?"

"No of course not I just..."

"Do you think that I'm of sound mind?" he said so calmly that if it wasn't for the questions that he was asking, she might have thought he was ok with it.

"You're one of the smartest and intuitive people I know."

"Would you want to take Kimberly OR Maddie let alone both of them into your life permanently?"

"No I wouldn't but.....I thought......I thought, that you'd be able to fix them."

"And what makes you think that I'm that kind of a miracle worker? Or that in the very little time off that I have, that I would want to spend it with that..........spoilt brat of a woman."

"I th..."

"You think too much! You assume too much and you have crossed the line. IF I decide that I need a FIFTH wife. I will choose one for myself. Are we clear?!"

"Yes Gibbs."

"Now come over here." No arguing with Gibbs. Abby hot footed it over to him and cringed as he pulled her over his knee. He yanked down her loose pants but left her underwear up as his hand slammed down hard on her backside making the few slaps that Tim had given her seem like Fairy claps. Smack after burning smack had her backside on fire within a few minutes, making tears spring to her eyes. Abby moved from side to side trying to get away from the blaze but Gibbs just held her firm as his paddle like hand ignited the inferno even further. When he started on the tops of her thighs, Abby couldn't take any more and she was soon reduced to a sobbing mess. He pulled her up into his arms and soothed her by rubbing gentle circles on her back. When her crying quieted he tipped her face up so that he could look into her eyes. "Your forgiven now Abs." he said.

Abby didn't speak for a little while, she just clung onto him and he was starting to worry that he had given her more than she could handle. "Abs?" he said."You ok?"

"Yeh. I'm sorry Gibbs. I really am. Can I ask you a question?"

"Anything Abs. You know that." He said relieved that she was more like her old self.

"Will you still come on Sunday?She really can be very nice if you give her a chance." she said. He had to smile. Abby was Abby and she would never change. She can 'take a lickin and keep on tickin' as the saying goes.

"Was there ever any doubt? Now go on go home to your husband. See if you can turn his hair grey."

"I think I already did that tonight when I didn't use the emergency brake on the Porche. It kinda smashed into the front fence." She said as she bounced out the door.

"That McGee is a saint!" he said out loud to himself. Then he chuckled. Tony was right their house is never boring. He wished he could've seen Tim's face when he saw his car. Gibbs loved Abby to death, she was like a daughter to him but trouble just followed her wherever she went.

As he closed his eyes and listened to his now silent house and he let himself wonder for a minute what it would be like to have some life back in the place again. He smirked. Maybe. He always did have a soft spot for bad tempered redheads with an attitude. Now two of them that'd be interesting. Even IF only one of them had red hair.

TBC


	21. Chapter 21

Thankyou all so much for your reviews and alerts. I really appreciate them all. I'm glad your still enjoying the story. :)

Chapter 21

By the time Abby got home the house was in darkness except for a flickering light from their bedroom. Tim must be watching television while he waited for her. After pulling the car into the garage and checking the emergency brake was on this time, she took her self upstairs. She'd never been so glad to get out of the car and stretch her legs and her butt, in her life. Well, there had probably been a few times, but it was never comfortable to sit after one of Gibbs' spankings.

When she reached the bedroom Tim held his arms out. She gratefully fell into them. "How'd it go?"Tim said, trying not to smile. Abby gave him a wry look.

"You knew how it would go Timmy. It went like that."

"Oh well Abs. You had to know that would happen. Was it worth it?"

"It soooo was. He's still coming on Sunday." She said. The light of enthusiasm again burning in her eyes.

"Abs, what happened today? Why do you care so much for this woman all of a sudden?" Tim said pulling her close as she shifted to get the weight off her bottom.

"I don't know. I mean one minute she's all bossy with that stupid posh voice trying to make everyone understand what she thinks we should all realise. That Maddie is more special than everyone else's kids. But she showed me a vulnerable side today Timmy, she was sad. Sad because she really wants the best for her child and she can't see what she's doing wrong. And the little brat is totally just doing her head in."

"Is that the only reason?"

"No. There has to be more to it. I think she probably misses her husband. And I think that she's worn out. Maddie is her whole life and she goes out of her way to get her everything, buy her everything do anything that she can think of to make her happy but it never does. It must be like banging your head on a brick wall."

"And where does Gibbs fit into all this?"

"Wellll, I think that he's lonely. That house is sooo he has a gift Timmy. He's really good with people. I think that he needs to be needed again."

"And?"

"Well imagine if they got together and Gibbs made Maddie behave and he fell in love with Kimberly and she had someone to lean on. It could be great for both of them."

Tim chuckled at her reasoning. "And, what did Gibbs think about all this."

Abby scowled. "He wasn't very enthusiastic. But he said he'd come so...."

"Abby McGee, you're playing with fire."

"Oh well! Wouldn't be like it was the first time."

Tim shook his head again. "And you haven't even given your ass a chance to cool off yet. Abby?"

"Yeh Tim?"

"I love you."

"Love you too." She said sleepily.

The next day at breakfast Abby and Tim talked to Jess about her first day back at school. Abby had made Jess while she was at NCIS, make a card for Connor. An I'm sorry card.

"Do you have your card Jess?" Abby said.

"Yes Mommy." She said

"Can I see?" Tim said "That's beautiful sweetie. Now you be very nice to Connor."

"Yes Daddy."

"Now if Maddie is doing the wrong thing today, you make sure that you don't join in ok?" Tim said.

"I won't." she said.

"Jess" Abby said, "you know that Maddie really wants to be your friend as much as you want to be hers don't you?"

"I guess." She said.

"Well, if Maddie is gonna do the wrong thing, you could tell her that you didn't think it was a good idea."

"I couldn't do that Mommy." She said.

"Why not?"

"Because then she wouldn't be my friend."

"She would you know. But anyway, you have to do the right thing, so like Daddy says, whatever she gets up to, don't join in."

"Ok."

"Dylan, do you have your science project?"

"Yep."

"Remember what I told you about mixing these two things together at the last minute."

"I will." He said.

"Sarah what's happening today? Are we picking you up?" Tim asked.  
"No, I'm going with Zac to his house for a while and then he'll drop me off here."

"Ok. But you two still can't be here by yourselves you know that right?"Tim said looking at her intently.

"Yes Tim! And you do know that people can get pregnant in a lot of places besides an empty house right?"

Grabbing her by the arm , he pulled her into the other room away from the younger kids. "Ouch" she said as Tim slapped her bottom hard.

"That might have come out of my mouth a little differently than it sounded in my head."

"Damn right it did. Firstly, just because you haven't been in trouble for a while and we treat you a little more grown up now, doesn't mean that your too old to have your backside tanned. Am I clear?"

"Yes Tim. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that in front of Jess and Dylan."

"No! You certainly shouldn't. Your six year old neice is going back to school today for the first time after being suspended. Now I have to worry that her show and tell is going to be about places that you can get pregnant. Sister Mary Clarence would LOVE that." He said scrubbing his face with his hands.

Sarah couldn't help but smile. "It'll be worse if she throws in the magic word that Abby said when she smashed the car yesterday." Tim turned her around and landed another smack as he guided her towards the door.

"Just get in the car Sarah before I make good with my threat." Sarah giggled.

Tim looked in the mirror quickly as he was leaving. Is that grey hair he thought, pulling at tufts.

When they got to work, they found Gibbs at his desk and Ziva at hers, Abby said a quick hello to Ziva and pecked Gibbs on the cheek, Hugged McGee and kissed him before she disappeared down to her lab.

Tim sat at his desk and powered up his computer and started checking his emails. It wasn't long before the elevator dinged again signalling Tony's arrival. He and Ziva had brought separate cars today as Ziva had to do something on her way home. "Hi Tim." Tony said. "You only brought the McFamily van today?"

"Yes Tony I did." Tim said not elaborating. Tony didn't miss Gibbs smirk though.

"Why would that be?" Tony said watching Tim's face.

"Porche's in the shop." Tim said quietly. Again with Gibbs grin. It was quick, too quick for the naked eye, but Tony saw it.

"Something wrong with the Porche?" he asked.

Realising that like a dog with a bone, Tony was not going to give up until he knew what happened, Tim blurted it out. "Abby forgot to put the emergency brake on and left it at the top of the driveway. It rolled back down and crashed into the front fence."

"Ouch!!" Tony said laughing. "And where is our Abby now? Standing up somewhere I presume?'"

"It was an accident Tony." Tim said.

"I'm sure it was. How come she didn't put the car away in the garage? I thought you always kept the Porche undercover?"

"She wanted to get to me first before Jess had a chance to tell me that she had invited Kimberly and Maddie to lunch on Sunday."

"Really!!!" Tony said glancing at Gibbs.

"Cat's already out of the bag Dinozzo, now I'll tell the rest of you what I told Abby last night. If I want a fifth wife, I will choose one for myself. So if anyone else in this room thinks it's a good idea to set me up, they will get the same as Abby got last night. AM I CLEAR!?" he said mostly to Ziva, like the others, he had known the girls were up to something.

"Yes Gibbs." Ziva said.

"Yes Boss." Tim said

"I woudn't dream of it Boss." Tony said trying desperately to hide his smirk.

"Good. Now get back to work."

"

"I'.... just have to take this paper work down to Abby." Ziva said uneasily as she headed for the elevator.

After turning all her babies on she flitted from one machine to another waiting for ding of the elevator brought Ziva. "Hey!" Abby said brightly.

"Hey Abby. What is happening about our plans?"

"Not much. I guess you heard about last night?"

"I would like to hear your version."

"I crashed the Porche."

"Tim was not angry?"

"No. He was really sweet. But when he found out about Sunday he made me go over to Gibb's house and tell him."

"What happened?"

"He spanked me for interfering. But the good news is that he's still coming on Sunday."

"But how are you intending to actually get them together?"

"That's gonna be the tricky part. Any ideas?"

"NO. Not really."

"I know. When I go to get the kids today I'll ask her to come here tomorrow for lunch. We can get her talking and if Gibbs just happens to call in, he might just get to see the softer side of her when she isn't with Maddie." Abby said happily bouncing around now that she'd come up with an idea.

"Abby are you sure? Gibbs seem to be pretty adamant that he did not want any of us to interfere."

"Ah!!! Abby said waving her arms at Ziva. "Leave Gibbs to me. He's a pussy cat really."

"MMMmmm" Ziva said sounding not sure at all. "I do not want to feel the wrath of Gibbs upon my ass Abby."

"Don't worry. If he gets pissed, I'll just say that you knew nothing about it."

"If you're sure it will work."

"Ziva, when have I ever steered you wrong?" Ziva just stared at her. "Well I know that there may have been a few times, but we probably didn't have enough planning in place. This plan is really foolproof." Abby said excitedly.

"I think I am having De javu." She said as she wandered back to the elevator again.

Abby Im'd Tim telling him that she would pick up the kids that afternoon. She hurried through her work, so that she'd be able to get there a little early. Gibbs came down later with her caf-pow as usual and things between them were back to normal. Abby didn't mention anything about Kimberly coming for lunch because technically she might not be. She hadn't actually asked her yet so she could be busy. Besides, it wasn't blind siding someone to have a friend to lunch is it? If Gibbs just happened to come down at the right time, that would just be fate. Wouldn't it? Abby thought so.

That after noon she was standing outside the school gate waiting for the kids when she saw Kimberly coming towards her. "Hi Abby." She said. Oh good Abby thought. Nice Kimberly was joining us today.

"Hey Kimberly. How are you doing?" Abby asked politely.

"Fine. Much as I hate to admit it, it was nice to have a few hours to myself today."

"I know what you mean." Abby said doing her best to make her feel at ease.

"Have you got to go back to work?" Kimberly said.

"Yeh just for a while, I still have some evidence I'm working on for the latest case."

"Sounds interesting."

"It is." Abby said. Here's an opening. "I know, why don't you come down to NCIS tomorrow and we can have lunch in my lab and I can show you how things work."

"Really!? I would love that. Are you sure it would be alright? You wouldn't get into trouble or anything? "

"Na I've had visitors there before lots of times."Abby said.

"Ok Then. time?"

"About twelve o'clock?"

"Great."

"Just call me when you get there and I'll come and get you." Abby said with a smile.

When the kids came out Jess launched herself at Abby who picked her up and hugged her tight. "How come you came to pick us up today?" Jess said. "Usually Daddy comes."

"Well, Daddy is on a case, so you got me. Were you good today?"Abby said planting a big kiss on her cheek.

"Yep! I sure was. So was Maddie and we got a sticker look?" Jess said poking up her shirt collar with a strawberry smelling sticker on it.

"Wow! You must have been good girls." Abby said putting her down and tugging at one of her braids. "Hey Dyl." she said giving him a one armed hug. She was conscious now of not embarrassing him in front of his friends with big displays of affection. "How was your day today?"

"It was fine." He said happily. "Can I go over to Toby's house and you can pick me up after work?"

"I guess so. Is it ok with his Mom?"

"Yep you can ask her if you want." Just then Toby and his Mom came over.

"Is that ok?" Abby said. "It's fine. I'll send him across when I see the car pull in if you like."

"That'd be great. Thank you." Abby said. "I'll owe you one."

"Don't be silly, Toby's always over at your house. Anyway I'll see you later. Bye"

"Bye, bye Dyl, be good."

"I will Mom." He shouted as he left. Kimberly, Jess and Maddie were watching this exchange with great interest.

"If Dylan is going to Toby's house, can Jess come to mine?" Maddie asked. UH OH! Abby thought. Should have seen that one coming.

"Would it be ok?" Kimberly asked. Everyone was being extremely civil this afternoon so Abby couldn't really think of a reason to say no. She could hardly say, my husband doesn't really think your fit to raise......well it doesn't matter cause she couldn't say that. Could she? Oh well what could possibly happen in one afternoon? She thought.

"Ok. But you have to be really good Jess. Ok?"

"I will be. I promise." She said excitedly jumping up and down.

"Mommy or Daddy will come and pick you up around I guess six? Is that ok?" Abby asked.  
"That'd be fine. Thankyou for trusting me Abby." Kimberly said sincerely.

Abby smiled but as they walked away she had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. You're being ridiculous, she told herself. Maddie's naughty, but she'd still alive. She'll be fine.

As she walked back into the bullpen a little while later she found that Tim was back. "Where's the kids?" he asked looking around.

"Um.....that's the thing. Dylan has gone over to Toby's and ........ JesshasgoneovertoMaddie'shouse." She said the last bit very fast hoping that it would lessen the impact. It didn't.

Tony cackled. "You let Jess go home with the shrew and the devil child. Ha! That should make for an interesting afternoon."

"Tony. Show some maturity." Ziva said.

"Sorry. Are you sure that's wise Abigail?"Tony said in his best grown up voice.

"No Tony, I think you might have been right the first time." Tim said. Obviously not to pleased.

"You weren't there McGee! It was really hard. They were standing there when I let Dylan go with Toby and his Mom with out any qualms at all. How could I say no to Jess when I said yes to would have been upset and Kimberly would've thought that we don't trust her."

"We don't!"

"What was I supposed to say?"

"Easy Abby. You could have said, 'when you're older you can go Jess' or 'I'm really sorry but I've known Toby's parents for a long time'."

Abby was wringing her hands and pacing now. She hated it when Tim was mad at her, but she hated it even more when he was right. She had had a bad feeling, she shouldn't have let her go.

"Toby's parents are the same as us. They have rules. He's safe there. I'll accept that Kimberly might not be terrible all the time, but the fact remains Abby that when that kid cries she gives in to anything to make her do we know that won't extend to something dangerous."

Tony's eyes were shining with the drama of it all but at the same time, he was fond of the McBrats and he wouldn't want anything to happen to any of felt sorry for Abby too and he didn't like to see her so upset. "What's the worst that can happen, honestly Tim. She could let them eat too much ice cream or drink a can of soda. What kind of dangerous things can two six year olds get up to?"

"That's EXACTLY what's scaring me Tony. I can't imagine."

"I'm sorry Tim, I'm gonna phone her." Getting her cell out of her pocket and pressing the number for the home phone, she waited and waited, no answer. Picking a different number, she rang Kimberley's cell phone. It rang for a while and then went to message bank. "Hi, this is Abby, we've been trying to reach you, could you please call me back when you get this message." She ended the call. "Where could they be?!" she was starting to feel really panicked now. Tim went over to her and pulled her into a hug.

"Shhh.I'm sorry Abs. I shouldn't have yelled at you, it's not your fault. Kimberly has probably left her cell phone in the car or something."

"No. I shouldn't have let her go. Can't we put a BOLO out on the car?"

"'Fraid not Abs. She hasn't even been gone an hour and we gave Kimberly permission to take her."

"I guess."

"Why don't you go back down to your lab and find something to take your mind off things."

"Ok." Abby said. Just as she was about to get in the elevator, her cell phone rang.

"Abby's phone." she said quickly. "Oh...Kimberly. Thank God! Where are you? I was getting worried!"

"Oh. Ok I guess. You shouldn't have done that." She said looking at Tim sheepishly. "Ok well I'll see you at six."

"Where was she?!" three voices all said at once.

"At the toy store. She bought Jess some Bratz dolls so they would play nicely." She said.

Tim shook his head. At least Jess was in one piece.

"Where's she get all her money from anyway?" Tony said.

"First husband. He was rich." Abby said.

"Goodluck Gibbs! A shrew and a possible black widow!" Tony said grimacing.

TBC


	22. Chapter 22

Thankyou everyone for all you lovely reviews and alerts. I really appreciate them. I'm sorry if I'm a bit slow with the review replies, sometimes real life has a way of intrudung on this life. I promise I'll try and keep up :)

Chapter 22

"Ok, Kimberly, this was really nice of you and all, but we can't accept all of these dolls." Jess's face fell as she burst into angry tears as Abby took the very large shopping sack from her that looked to contain at least a half a dozen dolls.

"Why not! Kimberly bought them for me. She said I could have them! They're mine! Not yours. She didn't give them to you! I hate you. You are a not letter! You never let me have anything!" Jess screeched as she wound herself up into a fully fledged tantrum. Tim had been waiting in the car, but came rushing up to the door when he heard the hullabaloo.

"What's going on?" he asked trying to pick Jess up and away from Abby before she hurt her. She struggled and fought as she tried to wrestle the dolls out of Abby's hand.

"Stop it Jess!" Tim said. "Use your words."

"She took them...." was all Jess could get out. Abby was obviously simmering and ready to come to the he knew that not all her anger was directed towards Jess.

Abby rolled her eyes at Tim. Maddie spoke first pointing at Abby. "She's being really mean. My Mommy bought Jess some Bratz dolls and SHE won't let her have them." Abby opened the bag for Tim to see. The situation spoke for itself.

"Jessica McGee! You stop this right now." He said tapping her on the bottom. Or do you want a spanking in front of your friend?" he said sternly.

She stopped immediately and managed to choke out "Kimberly bought them for me."

"Well although that was nice of Kimberly, you're not going to keep that many dolls. It isn't your birthday or Christmas and it's just too much in one go."

"If you hadn't have been so rude and badly behaved Jess, I would have let you choose one doll. Now you can't keep any." Abby said.

"I hate you! You're not fair! You're a big meanie!" Jess yelled at Abby with venom in her eyes.

Tim was about to smack her, but Abby beat him to it landing a few hard smacks on Jess's bottom. Jess narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to say something but changed her mind. Looking at Maddie who was watching all this with her mouth open, she was embarrassed and promptly burst into tears.

Nobody noticed as Maddie's eyes lit up with anger and indignation for her friend, before they could stop her she flew at Abby pushing her off her platform shoes. Luckily Tim was able to grab her before she actually hit the ground.

"Oh My God! Abby are you ok?!" Kimberly cried nearing hysterics at what Maddie had just done. But as she looked at the culprit, Tim could tell she didn't have a clue what to do. After checking Abby was alright, he suggested that she take a now speechless Jess to the car, while he had a word with Kimberly and Maddie.

He whispered in Kimberly's ear. "Do you want me to talk to her? I won't smack heror anything.I promise." Kimberly nodded. She was starting to realise that she needed help.

Tim crouched down to Maddie's level. He took hold of both her arms firmly so that she couldn't run. "That Maddie, was a very naughty and dangerous thing to do. You could have hurt Abby very badly, she could have hurt her back or hit her head and ended up in the hospital. Do you understand that?"

"She stole Jess's dolls and she hit her." Maddie said in a pouty voice.

"No she didn't. Abby was giving the dolls back to your Mommy, because it was too large a gift. She's the Mommy and she gets to decide. Not Jess. Six year olds don't get to make the decisions."

"Well she still hit her." She said sullenly.

"No she didn't. She spanked her bottom a few times. She did that because she loves Jess and she wants her to learn to be good so that other people like her too. Otherwise when she's all grown up, she won't know what the difference is between right and wrong. Do you know what happens to adults who do the wrong thing?"

"They go to jail." Maddie said.

"That's right. Abby and I? That's what we do for a job. We help to put the bad people in jail. So I know what I'm talking about."

"Ok." She said quietly.

"You be a good girl for your Mommy. And remember, who's the boss ?"

"Mommy." She said back to pouting again.

Kimberly mouthed "Thankyou."

Maddie had run inside so Tim felt he could speak more openly. "You need help with that child. If it's offered to you? Accept the help. I'd hate to see her in real trouble one day, but she needs to learn."

"Thankyou Tim."

On the car trip home, Abby and Jess didn't speak at all. When they got inside Jess stomped up to her room and slammed the door. Not long after Sarah opened the door a crack and snuck in. She sat on the edge of Jess bed and rubbed her back. "Hey Jess, wanna talk about it?"

Jess sat up and her face was red from crying and her braids were all messed up. Sarah took her braids out and started to brush her hair. "Kimberly bought me a bunch of Bratz dolls and mean Mommy wouldn't let me keep then because Mommy said no, Daddy said no too."

"Oh. I guess that would make you mad. Why do you think they wouldn't let you keep them?"

"Because they're mean."

"You really think that's the only reason?"

Jess shrugged. "Mommy said it was too much and Daddy said it wasn't my birthday or Christmas."

"Well that's right I guess."

"I guess."

"But Maddie gets everything."

"Jess, is Maddie happy?"

"Sometimes."

"When?"

"I can't remember."

"So she's not happy most of the time."

"I guess not."

"Then having everything maybe doesn't make you happy. That's why, when it's your birthday or Christmas it's really exciting. You get all kinds of new stuff. But if it was like that everday, then your birthday and Christmas wouldn't be special at all. Would it?"

"Maybe." Jess said obviously listening now.

"So what Mommy and Daddy were doing was making sure that your birthday and Christmas weren't spoiled."

"Mommy spanked me in front of Maddie."

"Oh. Why? What did you do?" Sarah knew that Abby doesn't smack often, she really had to be provoked.

Jess let out a big sigh. "I told her I hated her and I called her a meanie."

"Well then I think you are very lucky that Abby spanked you before Daddy got a hold of you. Don't tell Mommy I told you this but Daddy's smacks are much harder than Mommy's smacks." Jess giggled.

"Gibbs's smacks are the worstest ones." Jess said with her eyes big.

"Ain't that the truth!" Sarah said smiling. "Gibbs spankings are to be avoided at all costs."

When Sarah entered the kitchen she had a very embarrassed Jess walking practically in her footsteps as she clung on to her from behind. "What's the matter with her?" Dylan said.

"She needs to talk to her Mommy and Daddy for a minute Dyl, you wanna come outside and play ball until dinner."

"Ok." he said. I'm first in, he said as he shot out the door. Sarah pulled Jess out from behind her and passed her hand on to Abby.

"Hey little one. You ok now?" Abby said picking her up and hugging her.

"I'm sorry that I said you were a meanie. I don't hate you Mommy."

"I know you don't. You were just angry. But you can't act like that just because you're angry. That's why Mommy smacked you." Abby said putting her back down on the floor.

"Come here Jess." Tim said. Jess slowly walked over to Tim not really sure if she was still in trouble.

"Are you gonna spank me?" She asked.

"Not this time, Mommy already did. But you better not ever let me hear you speaking to Mommy like that again."

"I won't." Jess said. Of course meaning it at the time.

"Good girl. Wanna help me set the table?"

"Ok. Maddie doesn't have to eat at the table. She likes to watch TV while she eats."

"Oh well. We eat at the table in this house." Tim said with a smile.

The next day as it neared twelve o'clock, Abby was starting to wonder if Kimberly was gonna show. They had left things really odd last night with the doll fiasco and Abby never did find out what Tim said. By the time they'd got the kids to bed and done some laundry and such, talking about Kimberly was the last thing on either of their minds.

At twelve on the dot Abby cell went off. "Hey Kimberly." She said "Wait at the front desk and I'll be down to help you get in."

Abby raced to the elevator and in about ten minutes she was back with Kimberly who had brought a picnic basket. Who knew? Abby thought, she cooks. Finally something to put on the pro side of the paper. "I hope you don't mind me bringing the lunch but I didn't know how much time you had ..."

Abby cut her off. Are you joking? It's great. Tim and I are not the greatest of cooks. We manage and we know some really good take out places."

"Well you work long hours. I'm home all day. Abby, I... I want to apologise for last night. I shouldn't have bought the dolls for Jess without your permission. I just didn't think."

"No harm done. But do you mind me asking, did she ask you to buy them?"

Kimberly shook her head sadly knowing how this was going to come out. "I wanted the afternoon to go smoothly. Sharing.... well .....let's just say that Maddie is still progressing in the sharing department. I thought that if Jess owned the same dolls as Maddie has, that, well that there wouldn't be any fights."

"I see." Abby said. Gibbs is right. This woman needs a spanking as much as Maddie does.

"You don't approve obviously." Kimberly said.

"Not really up to me." Abby said diplomatically.

"Tim said some things last night to Maddie, that I'm pretty sure he wanted me to hear as well."

"Oh God! He wasn't........he didn't ...overstep did he?"

"No. No he didn't he just talked to Maddie about learning right from wrong and how adults get into trouble if they don't learn the difference between right and wrong when they're little." I must remember to give my Timmy a big kiss Abby thought.

Just when they were in the throws of conversation the elevator dinged. "Gibbs!" Abby said jumping up and throwing her arms around him. He gave her the scary glare. "We're just having lunch. Do you wanna join us? Kimberly's a great cook." She said enthusiastically. "Oh you two haven't been properly introduced. Jethro, this is Kimberly. Kimberly, this is Jethro."

"Pleased to meet you again Jethro." Kimberly said.  
"Likewise." Gibbs said tightly. "Abigail, you sent me a message saying you had something for me." OH and it had better be good he thought.

"As a matter of fact I do. Results of the tox screen and fingerprint analysis." She said. Check mate. She thought. A legitimate reason to call him down here. I'm in the clear.

"Would you like to join us for some lunch Jethro?" Kimberly asked was actually very attractive when she smiled he thought.

Gibbs smiled. "I only have a few minutes." He said. I may as well humour Abby he thought.

She passed him a plate. "Thanks Kimberly." He said. This is quite good he thought.

"I love to cook actually. I don't cook much at home." She said.

"You don't cook for Maddie?" Gibbs asked.

"Maddie only eats certain foods." Kimberly said. "That only need heating not cooking."

"Do tell. What foods does she eat?"

"Breakfast and lunch aren't too bad. Dinner has to be a certain brand of chicken nuggets."

"What about vegetables?" Abby asked "Or fruit."

"She doesn't eat vegetables or fruit. They make her sick."

"Is she allergic?" Gibbs asked.

"No. They make her gag. I can't force her or she really does vomit." Kimberly said her face full of concern. Oh No! Abby thought here we go.

"That's not good enough. The child'll get sick. If she's not allergic, you have to make her eat what you want her to eat."

"I don't think, Jethro, that you were listening to me. I can't FORCE her or she throws up." The voice was creeping back.

Gibbs was getting his back up now. He didn't know why, but he just couldn't walk away from this argument. "So what would happen if there were no more nuggets?"

"I don't know. She'd probably eat cereal or just go straight to dessert."

"So you would ......." Abby was starting to get worried now. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. He was supposed to see a different side of her when Maddie wasn't around. "You would give her dessert, after she looked you in the face and refused to eat her food?"

"Well, I..... but I..."

"Either you would or you wouldn't. would you give the child dessert or not?"

"I couldn't let her starve." Kimberly said actually getting distressed now.

"Gibbs!" Abby said imploring him to stop. He rubbed his hand over his face. He was just getting somewhere.

"Abby, I think I hear Tim calling you." He said looking towards the elevator in an effort to get rid of her. Abby took the hint and made an excuse and left.

Shit, she thought. She'll either be really grateful to both of us or never speak to either of us again. As the elevator opened at the bullpen she got out. Now she had to tell Tim. "Hey Tim." She said guiltily.

"What's up Abs? You haven't seen the Boss have you?"

"Kinda." She said wincing.

"Abby? What have you done?" Tony looked up and grinned. The one he saved especially for these situations. Ziva went on typing really fast but her ears were pricked.

"Nothing really. I just asked a friend to lunch and well Gibbs came down to the lab and one thing lead to another and he sent me up here."

"Ok." Tim said "One thing lead to another in a good way or in a KIMBERLY kind of way."

"More like a Kimberly kind of way." She said wincing. "It mightn't be too bad. They were only arguing over chicken nuggets."

Tony burst out laughing, spraying coffee all over his desk. Even Ziva joined in. Tim didn't see the funny side. "Oh well Abs. Your ass. But if he's in a pissy mood all afternoon because of your 'friend', then your ass is mine." He said.

"And what if he's in a GREAT mood because of my friend?"

"We'll see." Tim said

Down in the lab Gibbs was circling Kimberly clearly throwing her off her game. "Don't you see that not eating her dinner, just as an example, is an act of defiance. If you then give her dessert, you're rewarding that behaviour."

"But if I didn't feed her SOMETHING, she'd go to bed hungry."

"And she'd eat her breakfast the next morning and she'd survive. And then that night she might remember, if not, it might take a few more nights but she would eventually eat her dinner."

"But I've seen her. It makes her sick. She can't swallow anything else but..."

"I swear, if you say that Maddie can swallow, cereal, toast, ice cream, cookies McDonalds and chicken nuggets but she can't swallow mashed potatoes."

"I know it doesn't make any sense but she can't. Maybe its' the taste." Kimberly said emphatically.

"She's playing you."

"You don't know her or me."

"You're right. I don't. But I know a gullible mother and a spoilt rotten kid when I see one. Keep going and that kid is going to end up in jail when she's older."

"What would you know about kids or the grieving process. I am trying to ease her pain."

"I know more than you think. About both. And you talk about easing her pain. How? By letting her get so spoiled that she's impossible to be around. So that she never gets invited to Birthday parties or to other kids houses. How's all that workin for ya?"

Kimberly started to pack up the basket. Throwing things in as fast as she could. Snatching it up she stalked towards the elevator. "Tell Abby that I'll see her on Sunday. I wouldn't come and get in your way but Maddie has her heart set on it and ...."

Seeing that she was close to tears, even though they were angry tears, made Gibbs soften. He didn't do well with women's tears. He tried to grab her arm. "Kimberly maybe I......." but before he could finish what he was going to say, she took a swing at him and slapped him hard across the face. He took a step back, stunned. But as she made to leave he grabbed her. More firmly this time and tucked her under his arm. It was just one really hard smack but it was enough to make her jump. Kimberly tried hard to think of something to say as she rubbed the sting out of her bottom but before she could say anything Gibbs had pulled her into his arms and was kissing her so passionately that she dropped the basket, spilling food and plates and silverware all over the lab floor.

After they had picked up the spilled contents of the basket and cleaned up the floor, Gibbs kissed her again. Though softer this time. "Well." He said "I'll guess I'll see you on Sunday."

He entered the elevator as Abby exited. He kissed her on the cheek. "You win this time."he said.

TBC


	23. Chapter 23

Thankyou for all your wonderful reviews and alerts. I really appreciate your support. This is quite a long chapter. I found it hard to find a place to break. I hope you don't all think that I've been too cruel to Maddie. She is a brat though. :)

Chapter 23

The rest of the week went quite smoothly with nothing drastic happening for a change. After Mass on Sunday, Tim and Dylan were outside putting up portable tables for lunch. Their family had grown considerably with Kimberly and Maddie joining them today it would bring the count to thirteen, as neither Ducky or Zac could make it. "Geez, thirteen, I hope that's not an omen." Tim said.

"What's an omen?" Dyl asked.

"It's a sign that things are gonna go badly." Tim answered.

"I don't think you need a sign for that Dad. Maddie's coming." He said dryly. "God, she's such a pain in the....."

"Don't say it Dyl." Tim warned. "And don't say God. We just came from church."

"Dad I was gonna say neck and I was just tellin God what a pain she is." Dylan said deadpan.

"I'm sure you were and you don't need to let God in on that information, I'm sure that he's well aware." Tim smiled.

Inside Abby and Jess were both fussing around. Jess because she wanted everything in her room to be just right. She fussed with her dolls making sure that all their hair was brushed and that their clothes and accessories were laid out so that Maddie would be able to find whatever she'd like to dress them in.

Abby because she wanted everything to be right for Gibbs and Kimberly. The food, the place settings, everything. She even tried to get Tim into organising some couples games but he refused. Several times. He even had to refuse rather forcefully with a few well place spanks to get her to leave him alone. That's when he and Dylan decided to escape outside away from the fussing women. Abby pouted as she washed the salad vegetables and checked on the dessert.

Little did she know that Gibbs wasn't going to need as big a push as she first thought. Neither Kimberly or Gibbs had mentioned the kiss to Abby but it was uppermost in both of their minds. Gibbs in fact couldn't wait to see Kimberly again and the same could be said for her.

Gibbs knew that this was going to be a challenge but one that he was sure he was up to. After talking to her mother, he was sure that a lot of Maddie's problems came from sheer indulgence. A problem that shouldn't be too hard to fix.

From Kimberly's point of view, she could also see the potential in a relationship with Gibbs. Sure he was a bit arrogant and high handed, but that was only because she hadn't been able, in such a short time, to make him understand fully about Maddie's complicated needs. She was sure if he got to know her better he would see how special she was.

Abby got out the box of chicken nuggets that Kimberly suggested she get for Maddie to eat and read the instructions. They would have to be put in practically at the last minute as they wouldn't take very long. Tim came up behind her and put his arms around her and kissed her neck. "Am I back in the good books yet?" he said.

"Maybe." She said turning in his embrace still with the box of nuggets in her hand.

"What's that?" he said trying to read the box sideways.

"Chicken nuggets for Maddie. Apparently she doesn't eat people food." She said grinning.

"Oh well! We have to keep Maddie happy at all costs, don't we?" he said sarcastically.

"Today Timmy we do. She is our guest. The same as her mother and we try to make our guests happy." Tim rolled his eyes and left the kitchen after kissing Abby on the cheek. He had a really bad feeling about today.

The first ones to arrive that day were Tony and Ziva. Tony carried in a big pot of pasta that he had made and plonked it on the stove before pulling Abby into a hug. "I'm so excited today Abs. It's like that feeling you get when your a kid and it's the fourth of July. You just can't wait for the fireworks to start. She flipped him with the dishtowel.

"There might not be any fireworks. Gibbs gave me the impression that he was interested."

"Oh there'll be fireworks Abs, I can smell it in the air, and I'm never wrong." He said sniffing dramatically as he went outside to find Dyl and Tim.

"Are you sure you know what you are doing Abby?"

'You worry too much. It'll be fine. Just a couple of extra friends for lunch. That's all."

"Hey Abs! Hey Ziva!" Amber said as she and Jimmy walked in with bags of rolls. "How goes the plans."

"What plans?" Jimmy said wincing. "What have you three been up to now?"

Abby patted his cheeks. "Nothing for you to worry about Jimmy."

"I'm not one of your kids Abby. You don't have to talk down to me." He said.

Abby winced. "Sorry Mr Sensitive." she said patting his cheeks again. "Nothing for you to worry about James." She said cheekily. Jimmy narrowed his eyes at her and then went outside to join the others.

"Ouch! What's wrong with him today?" Abby said.

"It's not you Abby. He thinks that I don't think that he's a manly man."

"I do not understand." Ziva said.

"We were talking about..." Amber got up to check that no one was coming that shouldn't hear and then carried on. "Kimberly and the fact that she needed someone to keep her and Maddie in line. I happened to mention that we thought Gibbs was the person for the job because.... well he's Gibbs. He asked what made Gibbs different from him and when I explained that he was a manly man an alpha male....."

"Oh shit!" Abby said just as Tim walked in. He got three beers out of the fridge and set them on the counter. He then opened the cabinet under the sink and got out a bottle of liquid soap and put it down on the counter in front of Abby. He landed a couple of rather generous smacks to her jean clad backside and picked up his beers and left.

"I tried to explain that I love him just the way he is but he just isn't like....well like that." She said pointing to the soap.

"Timmy is Timmy. But he's not like Gibbs. Gibbs is........well they broke the mold."

"Should my ears be burning Abs?" he said kissing Abby on the cheek and passing her a caf-pow.

"Only saying good things Gibbs of course." She said pulling him into a big hug. "Hey, you're looking rather special today Gibbs, is that a new shirt?"

"I do have to buy new clothes occasionally Abby." He said irritated that she'd noticed.

"Geez. Just saying is all.I know you buy new clothes its just that when you do buy new clothes they're always the same as the old ones. Only newer." Just then there was a knock on the door. "Saved by the bell." she said running to the door to get away from Gibbs.

Jess flew down the stairs and threw herself at Maddie as soon as Abby opened the door. Abby noticed that Kimberly was looking pretty special too and her red hair was out and flowing around her shoulders. That had to be a plus. Another thing to put on the pro side of the page. "Come up to my room." Jess said excitedly as she dragged Maddie by the hand up the stairs.

"Hi Abby." Kimberly said. "Thanks again for inviting us."

"My pleasure and Tim hasn't stopped talking about you and Maddie all morning." She said truthfully. She didn't mention that none of it was good. "Come into the kitchen. That's where all the girls are." She said shutting the door behind Kimberly.

"Kimberly, this is Ziva, Amber and you know Gibbs." she said smiling.

"Yes, I believe we have met." Gibbs said kissing her on the cheek.

As the others recovered, they each called out their greeting. Abby then went to take her outside to introduce her to the men when Gibbs took Kimberly's arm. "It's alright Abs, I'll do the introductions if you like. I'm sure you were in the middle of something." He said and he had Kimberly outside before Abby had a chance to reply.

"Well! What do you make of that?" Abby asked. "Something sure must have happened between the 'war of the nuggets' and me meeting Gibbs in the elevator. We just need to find out what." She said as the others looked on amused. There was nothing like Abby in enthusiastic mode.

"I think we should go outside." Ziva said. "It will be easier to observe from a closer proximity."

"Yeh, good idea." Amber said.

"How long until we eat do you think Zi? I have these nuggets I have to put on for Maddie, they take about twenty minutes."

"I would leave it a little while. I will remind you."

"Ok let's go. What's everyone drinking?"

As they sat outside Abby tried to observe what was happening, but as soon as the girls were outside Kimberly came to sit with them. So they didn't get much of a chance to observe them together. Pretty soon Sarah came downstairs and joined then as well. Abby introduced them and they all chatted about not much as usual. After a while Abby couldn't take it any more. She had to ask. "What happened between you and Gibbs after I went up to the bullpen the other day?"

Kimberly immediately blushed bright red. "Well......I......he....."

"Come on! You're killing me here." Abby said desperately.

"When you left we continued to argue." She said very quietly so that Gibbs and the other men wouldn't hear. "One thing lead to another and I was going to leave. He had me nearly in tears. I picked up the basket and was about to leave when he took hold of my arm."

"How did he take hold of your arm roughly? Gently?" Abby asked, trying to piece it all together.

"Well kind of a mixture between firm and gentle."

"Go on." Abby said not being fed the details fast enough.

"Well. I did something that you probably would think wasn't very smart."

"What?! Four voices said all at once.

"I..."

"If you don't spit it out I think I'm gonna have some kind aneurism." Abby said dramatically.

"Fine. I slapped him across the face." She said wincing at the audible intake of breath from the other four. "That was bad. Wasn't it."

"Well, that depends on what happened next." Abby said as the other four stared in wonder.

"He......he.......he tucked me under his arm and he spanked me. Well not a whole spanking. It was just one smack, but what a smack. I was still feeling it all the way home. Three of the girls exchanged knowing glances. Oh yeh! They had had those smacks from Gibbs.

"Then what happened?" Four voices said at once.

"He kissed me."

"What kind of a kiss?" Abby said curiously.

"Abby!" Sarah said "Don't you think you're getting a bit personal?"

"I need to know Sarah." Sarah rolled her eyes.

"It wasn't a kiss on the cheek." Kimberly said. "It was a kiss. A real kiss."

"Was there tongue?" Abby said and Ziva, Amber and Kimberly all burst out laughing.

"Abby!!! That is so gross. You're all old. Yuk!" But that just made them all laugh more. They couldn't really take offence. They had all been there. It's funny how when you're in your teens, people in their thirties seem ancient. Whenshe had stormed off to play with Lulu, Abby restarted her interrogation.

"So was there?"

"Was there what?"

"Tongue?"

"Yes Abby there was tongue!" Kimberly said in her best posh accent. The girls all whooped and carried on and Tim and Tony wondered what on earth could be so exciting. Gibbs just smirked. He had a fair idea.

Up in Jess's room the girls had been playing fairly well but Maddie was bored. "Let's go and look around in the other rooms." She said.

"Which ones?" Jess asked.

"Sarah's room. I bet she's got all kind of neat stuff."

"I don't know." Jess said. She knew that she wasn't supposed to go into anyone else's room with out their permission but Maddie wanted to. She didn't want to upset Maddie. "Ok." She said timidly.

After checking that no one was coming, they crept into Sarah room and shut the door. Maddie opened the closet and was amazed at all the clothes and shoes. She then went to the drawers and started snooping at Sarah's stuff. Jess was getting worried and kept watching the door. They were gonna catch it if they were caught in here. Especially going through Sarah's things. "Maybe we should go now Maddie." She tried.

"In a minute I just wanna have a look through here." She said when her eyes lit on a jewellery box. "WOW!!! Look at all this pretty stuff."she said in awe. She picked up the Tiffany bracelet that Abby had bought Sarah in New York. "I really like this one. I'm just gonna borrow it for a while."

"You can't!" Jess said panicking. "That's stealing and that's Sarah's bracelet."

"I'll give it back when I'm finished with it. She has so much stuff she won't even notice that it's gone."

"Please Maddie. We're gonna get in trouble."

"I'm not! I'm a guest and you're supposed to make guests happy."

"Ok." Jess said sadly. All the joy of having her friend over had suddenly been sucked out of the day. Jess didn't know what to do. She knew she should tell someone but she didn't know who she could tell without losing her friend.

They went back to Jess's room and Maddie tried on the bracelet, swinging around when she looked at herself in the mirror. Jess just sat on her bed playing with the hair on one of her dolls. "What's the matter?" Maddie said. "Are you gonna tell?"

"No." Jess said.

"Well then watcha sitting there all sad for?"

"Cause I don't wanna get into trouble and I don't want Sarah to hate me."

"It's just a dumb bracelet Jess. I thought you were my best friend."

"I am."

"Well best friends keep secrets together."

"Ok. I guess."

Downstairs in the kitchen Abby had the box of nuggets out of the freezer and was getting a tray out to put them on. "Whatcha doing Abs?" Gibbs said from behind her.

"Um, I'm just putting on these nuggets."

"Did Kimberly ask you to get those for Maddie."

"Well there's a lot there. Anyone can have some if they want them."

"That's not what I asked you Abby. "Did....she....ask....you...to...get.....those...for....Maddie?"

"She might have mentioned something about them being Maddie's favourite."

"Right." Gibbs said.

Marching up to Kimberly he bent down and whispered in her ear. "A word?"

"Sure." she said smiling. The other girls exchanged glances. They were pretty sure by the look Gibbs had on his face that she didn't have much to smile about.

"What's with the nuggets?" Gibbs said getting straight to the point.

"I don't know exactly what you mean." She answered innocently.

"You asked Abby to get nuggets for Maddie didn't you?"

"Um..well I know that it might seem odd but....."

"But you didn't want her to make a scene right?"

"Yes. Right." She said sadly.

"Would you say that you were brought up with manners?"

"Of course I was."

"Then can't you see how rude that is when your invited to someone's house, that you tell them what food they should provide?"

"Well I know it might seem that way but Maddie's different to other children."

"Yes she is." Good she thought. He's finally starting to understand. "She's more spoilt than any other child I have ever known." Gibbs said desperately.

"I know. I'm you don't understand how strong willed she is."

"Whatever you're doing, is not working. I would like to help. If you'll let me."

"Why would you want to bother?"

"Because I'm very attracted to you. I don't know why, but one minute I want to kiss the daylights out of you and the next minute I'd like to throw you over my knee and paddle your backside. A very nice backside it is too." He said with a grin.

Kimberly blushed. "So if I accept your help with Maddie, what form of chastisement would you use?"

"Whatever it takes. I would do whatever needed to be done. The question is, do you love your daughter enough to let me help her. Or are you going to take the easy option of always giving her her own way to avoid a fuss?"

Kimberly sighed. "I'll accept your help. And thank you." Gibbs smiled and pulled her behind the garage where they didn't have an audience. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her gently. But she was the one this time who deepened the kiss. It had been a long time since she had been held so firmly in a man's arms and she was finding him irresistible. Gibbs was definitely enjoying it himself. There was something about this little spitfire that made him feel alive again. So much so that he almost forgot where he was.

Abby had sent Tony and Ziva to round everyone up for lunch. Ziva had gone upstairs to round up the kids and Tony was searching out Sarah and Gibbs and Kimberly. He found Sarah first and she went to wash up for lunch but he had to search for Gibbs. It was all he could do not to shout out when he did eventually find him. He raced back to the table and Abby said "Where's Gibbs and Kimberly? He hasn't murdered her. Has he?"

"Nope hasn't murdered her." All eyes were on him when they heard the excitement in his voice. "They're making out behind the garage." He said animatedly.

"That so Dinozzo?" Gibbs said slapping the back of his head. "What are you twelve?"

"Well I wasn't the one making out behind the shed." He said under his breath. Not far enough under, as this earned him yet another whack on the back of the head.

Gibbs went in to the kitchen just as Abby was getting the nuggets out of the oven.

"We're not goin to be needing those Abs. Maddie will be eating the same as the rest of us." He said. "I'll reimburse you, just give them to the dogs."

"Are you sure?"

"Abby I'm positive."

"Ok!" she said tossing the nuggets in to a bowl. You wanna do the honours?"

"Sure." He said going outside and sharing the contents of the bowl between the two dog's bowls.

"Are those Maddie's nuggets?!" Kimberly said, her usual posh voice creeping back.

"Yep!" Gibbs said.  
"But...what if she won't eat the other food? She'll be hungry."

"Yep. I guess she will." Gibbs said matter of factly.

"I can't just let her starve." Kimberly said putting her hands on her hips.

"Did you agree to let me help Maddie?"

"Yes but...."  
"But nothing. If we're gonna do this. We're gonna do it my way. Your way is not working. And that is a proven fact." Gibbs said moving his face so close to hers that she was finding it hard to breath.

"What if she makes a scene." she said quietly.

"Then she'll be hungry with a sore bottom."

"You would spank her?"

"I told you I will do whatever it takes." Gibbs said silencing her with a kiss.

Ziva arrived with kids from upstairs and Gibbs navigated himself until he was sitting next to Maddie. Kimberly went to sit on the other side of her and Gibbs signed something to Abby who immediately came to his rescue. "You can't sit there Kimberly. Come and sit with us girls so we can discuss important stuff." Abby said. Pleased that Abby wanted her, she followed her down to the other end of the table giving Maddie a nervous glance as she went. Gibbs winked at her to reassure her.

Tim and Gibbs went about serving pasta and salad onto their plates as well as the kids plates, while Tony and Amber poured drinks. The others all passed things backwards and forwards across the table until every plate was full. Everyone was tucking into their food happily except for Maddie. "I don't eat this food." She said.

"It's nice!" Tim said. "You should try it. Look Jess is eating it and Dylan loves it."

"It's yuk!" she said poking it distastefully with her fork.

Gibbs lowered his head and said quietly. "This is lunch. There isn't gonna be anything else."  
"I...don't want it." She said pushing the plate away.

"Your choice. But if you don't eat this there'll be nothing else. That's the decision you're making. No different lunch, no dessert. NO nuggets."

The table was deadly quiet except for the sound of forks scratching on plates as everyone tried to listen and eat at the same time.

"What's for dessert?" she asked curiously.

"I don't know. Abby what's for dessert?"

"Chocolate cake and icecream."Abby answered with a nervous smile.

"One of my favourites."Gibbs said.

"Hpmmff!!" Maddie pouted.

"I'll tell you what." Gibbs said. " Seeing as how your not used to eating this kind of food, you just have to eat eight bites to be able to eat your dessert."

"I'll be sick." Maddie said starting to turn on the water works.

"You haven't even tried any."

Next to Abby, Kimberly wasn't eating her food either. She was getting more nervous by the minute. "I'd eat it if I were you." Tony said smiling. "He might not let you have dessert either."

"Anthony, I think I might forego dessert anyway in favour of a very strong drink." Kimberly said attempting to smile back. Abby felt really sorry for her, she really was struggling with this.

Down at the other end of the table Maddie placed a miniscule amount of pasta on her fork. "That's not a bite." Gibbs said, forking up what he considered to be a mouthful of food for a little girl.

Maddie glared at him. "I hate you." She said.

Gibbs narrowed his eyes at her. "That is the only time I'll let you get away with speaking to me like that. Next time I'll smack your bottom. Now either put some food in your mouth or leave the table. That, is your last chance."

Maddie slowly brought the food to her mouth. As she attempted to chew it her chin started to wobble.

"She's gonna blow!" Tony hissed. Ziva whacked him under the table.

"Swallow it Maddie. You're doing really well." Gibbs said. "I'm proud of you for doing that."

Maddie kept chewing.

Tony leaned in towards Abby. "If the food tastes so bad to her, why is she leaving it in her mouth so long?" he whispered.

"Shutup." She mouthed back at him.

"Swallow it now Maddie." Gibbs said.

Maddie turned around and spat the food on the grass. "I can't!!" she wailed.

"So you're not going to try?" Gibbs asked.

"NO!!!" she cried even louder.

"Ok. Leave the table." Gibbs said sternly. "No dessert."

Not really believing that her mother would let her go without dessert if the others were having it, Maddie hopped down happily from the table.

Kimberly came down with her plate and took Maddie's place at the table. "She did try Jethro."

"No she didn't. She humoured me and then she spat it out. I said eight bites not one spat out bite. She's not having dessert."

"But you can't make her sit and watch the other children eat dessert. It's not fair."

Gibbs almost laughed. "What's not fair about it. They ate their lunch. She didn't. They get dessert, she doesn't."

"I won't stand by and let you be so mean to her."

"It's not mean. You said you wanted help and I'm helping."

"I do want help."

"As long as I do things your way."

"No.....that's not what I said."

"Good. Then she get's no dessert. And if I catch her eating any she won't be the only one with a warm backside."

"Well!" she said starting to get up from the table. Gibbs grabbed her hand and pulled her back down.

"Not so fast. You haven't eaten your lunch either."

She couldn't help but smile.

"I wasn't joking." He said wearing his best poker face.

After lunch was over everyone, but especially Kimberly were waiting with baited breath to see what antics dessert would bring. Abby was in the kitchen sadly removing the cake from the fridge and the ice cream from the freezer, when Tim came up behind her. "What up Abs?"

"Nothing." She said sadly.

Tim turned her in his arms and placed a kiss on her forehead. "I know what you're thinking and it really doesn't have anything to do with us Abs."

"Yes it does. I know she's a pain in the butt but We're about to take the things out there that will break a little girl's heart."

"It's just cake and ice cream Abby and it's for her own good."

"It's so much more than that Timmy. It's symbolic of her losing control. That must be scary for a little girl who doesn't know any different."

"What's gonna be scary for you, if you go against Gibbs and don't bring out the dessert. It will all be for nothing. And Gibbs is right. Our kids ate. You want to break THEIR hearts because they did the right thing and then missed out?"

"Thought it was just cake." She said cheekily.

Tim narrowed his eyes at her and took the cake from her and picked up the ice cream. As he went towards the back door he said. "Bring the bowls please Abs."

Tim set the cake and the ice cream on the table. Gibbs stood up. He knew they were going to be in for a fight and he wanted to be prepared. Abby sat down next to Kimberly who looked about ready to cry. Ziva accepted her dessert with a smile, she actually thought that Gibbs methods were spot on. A bit of pain this week and she probably would be eating most things by next week. Abby shook her head and Tim gave her a disapproving look. Amber took her dessert and looked at it like it might choke her. And the same went around the table until everyone who was eating dessert had been served. Maddie walked over to the table to her Mommy.

"Mommy I'm hungry." she said.

Kimberly looked at Gibbs who looked at her sternly. "Gibbs said no dessert Maddie, because you didn't eat your lunch."

"Mommy, I don't eat that food. It was yukky."

"No Maddie." Her Mommy said looked as though she was gonna cry. This didn't go unnoticed with Maddie.

"Mommy I want some cake and ice cream." Maddie said getting wound up properly.

Gibbs came across to rescue Kimberly who had tried but was finding it hard. Crouching down to her level Gibbs said "No dessert Maddie. You were given a choice and you decided not to eat so no dessert." There was a collective intake of breath as Maddie slapped Gibbs hard across the face.

Before she knew what hit her Gibbs had taken a seat flipped her over his lap and landed a few hard smacks to her bottom. Maddie had never been so shocked in her little life and she let out a blood curdling scream that had the poor dogs running for cover. Kimberly burst into tears herself as Gibbs picked Maddie up and deposited her into a corner. "Don't you dare move." He said. Hurrying back to Kimberly. He pulled her up and then back down into his lap again. Everyone was speechless.

They were so shocked at the recent events that it was hard to determine which shocked them the most. Maddie having the gall to slap Gibbs, Kimberly crying but not really stopping Gibbs from spanking the golden child or the big shocker their Boss sitting with the shrew on his lap comforting her.

Jess shrank away to sit with the dogs. Tears ran down her face as she saw her beloved friend in so much trouble. She couldn't imagine what kind of trouble she was gonna be in when they found out about the bracelet. Jess knew one thing. Maddie was never gonna want to come back to this house ever, ever again.

TBC


	24. Chapter 24

I edited this last night before I posted it but the edit/ preview thingy seems to be hit and miss. I will try to explain what happens. When I transport something from 'Word' to the document manager, there is usually a bunch of words that go missing. Sometimes it's nearly a whole sentence. I always edit before I post and depending on how tired I am I uasually catch most of them. But last night the edit thing must not have worked because none of the stuff that I edited saved.

As for the spelling, sometimes I do that on purpose. I try to write the way people speak. In real life people rarely speak with perfect English. It sounds stilted to me.I try to save that for Ziva and Ducky. Also the way I write is to just start typing and see where the story takes me. Sometimes I don't even know myself that something is going to happen. Anyway, I appreciate all your reviews and alerts. If there is a glaring problem, please just let me know and I will fix it. :)

Chapter 24.

Dylan went in search of his sister. He knew that she had been upset about Maddie, but everyone was so wrapped up in their own conversations that nobody noticed her slip away. Dylan was so sick of Maddie. She was a pest. Always getting his sister to do dumb stuff. When he came around behind the garage, he found Jess sitting in a heap with tears running down her face.

"Why you cryin Jess?" he asked. "He only smacked her a couple of times. We've both had way bigger spankings than that before."

"I know." She said.

"She deserved it Jess. She smacked Gibbs. How stupid can you be. But then you did bite Gibbs. That wasn't very smart either."

"I know."

"Then why're you round here by yourself crying."

"Because." Maybe she should tell him, she thought.

"Because why?" Something else is wrong. Should I go and get Mom he thought.

"Just because." I can't tell. Who would I sit with and play with at school tomorrow?

"You wanna come and play a game in my room?" Dylan tried.

Jess just shook her head. Dylan tried to think of someone that could help.

"You want me to get Mom or Dad?"

She shook her head vehemently.

"Ok then." He said. "I'm just gonna go inside now."

Jess just nodded her head but tears were still rolling down her cheeks.

Dylan walked away but wasn't sure what to do next. He knew he could tell Tony but he was sitting too close to Gibbs and the little witch's mother. He didn't want to tell his Mom just yet because he didn't know what the problem was. Sarah was upstairs getting ready for her date with Zac. Telling Ziva would be like telling......well she would just tell right away. If his Dad had been on his own he might have been able to tell him but like if he told his Mom he might get Jess in trouble. If only he knew what the problem was. Then he saw Jimmy sinking baskets on his own.

"Jimmy could I talk to you for a minute?" Dylan asked. "I have a problem."

"Sure Buddy, what can I do for you?"

"It's not really my problem it's Jess."

"Is she ok?"

"I don't know. She's crying over there behind the garage and she won't come out. And she doesn't want me to tell Mom or Dad. I don't know what to do. Will you come and talk to her?"

"I'll try." He said.

When Jimmy saw Jess sitting in a little ball with her face awash with tears, his heart nearly broke for her. "Hey Jess. What's wrong?" he asked. He sat next to her on the grass and pulled her up into his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed. "You need to tell me what's wrong no matter what the problem is, it's only gonna get worse if you don't tell me."

"I'm scared."

"What are you scared of? Come on, you can tell me." He coaxed.

"Will you tattle on me?"

"That depends on what it is. I can't honestly say that I won't tell, but I will help you to try and fix it. But I know that sooner or later you're gonna have to face the problem."

Jess opened her mouth to try and tell Jimmy but instead of words coming out, she just started a fresh bout of crying. Jimmy sighed. He had a terrible feeling that this must be bad.

On the patio where Maddie was standing in the corner, she had finally stopped crying. Gibbs tapped her on the shoulder and then turned her around. "Do you know why you were in trouble?" She nodded. "You don't hit people and you have to do as you're told." Maddie was silent.

"Do you understand me?"

Still silent. Gibbs lifted her up and sat her on his lap."Oh well if you're not going to talk, you can listen. You have gotten away with being naughty for too long. It stops now. That was just a couple of smacks. If you choose to do the wrong thing again, I will spank you and it will be much more than that. Do you understand?"

Maddie nodded sullenly. Even though she wasn't very receptive, Gibbs gave her a hug and kissed the top of her head. "You're forgiven." He said.

"Now can I have cake?" Gibbs rolled his eyes.

"No cake." He said as she walked away glaring at him with narrowed eyes.

Upstairs, after showering and changing and doing her make up, Sarah was messing with a few last minute things. She opened her jewellery box to choose a pair of earrings when she noticed something different. Her bracelet. It wasn't there. She lifted the jewellery box up and check all around it. She checked the drawers. She checked the floor. It just wasn't anywhere.

Back outside and Jimmy was still cuddling Jess close and it seemed like she wasn't crying any more. "Ok Jess. Now you have to tell me." Jimmy said sternly.

She looked at his face. He meant it.

"Maddie and I.......we went into Sarah's room when we didn't ask....."

"And? What did you do in there?" Jess looked as if she was gonna start crying again. "Ah, ah." Jimmy said "No more of that. You have to tell me now, what you and Maddie did."

Jess lay her head on his chest, frightened that he would push her away when he knew what they'd done. "Maddie took Jess special bracelet from her jewellery box. She said she was just gonna borrow it and then she would put it back when she was finished with it. She said that friends have secrets together and they don't tell."

"Maddie was wrong. She was wrong to take the bracelet and she was wrong about friends having secrets together. Well sometimes it's ok to have secrets together but not about stealing. Sometimes you have to tell because that's the best thing for the other person. Like now. I have to tell your Daddy or your Mommy because that's the best choice for you."

"You want me to get a spanking?" she asked sadly.

"If that's what they think is best. I don't know what they'll do Jess. You didn't take the bracelet, but you took Maddie in to Sarah's room when you weren't supposed to. You knew she took it and you didn't tell anyone. If you were an adult, that would be classed as a crime. You're not allowed to hide stuff like that. You can get in a lot of trouble. Come on we may as well get it over with." He said, standing up and taking her hand.

"I don't wanna go." She said putting her hands on her hips.

"Sorry honey." Jimmy said picking her up.

"You put me down Jimmy I don't wanna go over there." She said getting angry now.

"Stop it Jess." He said as she struggled and kicked trying to get out of his arms. As she landed one kick low on his belly, a little too close for comfort, his voice changed from gentle persuasion to authoritarian. "Stop that this minute Jessica." He said adding a sharp smack to her wriggling bottom.

She immediately stopped and looked into his face. She couldn't believe that her friend Jimmy had used that voice. "I'm sorry Jimmy. Are you mad?"

"Of course not silly. So long as you don't kick me." He said.

Sarah was on her way down the stairs as Jimmy pulled Tim aside with Jess still in his arms. Thankfully he was able to get to the crux of the story, before Sarah came out demanding to know who had been in her room.

Tim took Jess from Jimmy and patted his shoulder, thanking him for running interference. Jess again burst into tears as she hung on to her Daddy's neck for dear life.

"I think I can clear that up Sarah." Tim said. "I take it you're missing a bracelet?" Everyone looked up stunned. Nobody was expecting another drama so soon. Suddenly Maddie ran across the yard and down the side of the house where she thought that no one would find her. Thankfully Gibbs had seen her out of the corner of his eye. So had her mother. Gibbs didn't say anything as he watched Kimberly sneak down the side of the house after Maddie. He thought it might be better to actually see what she did.

What have you lost Honey?" Abby asked.

"My Tiffany bracelet. It was in my jewellery box this morning and then it was gone.

"Why is Jess crying Timmy? Does she know something about the bracelet?" she asked. Tim nodded.

"Look this is embarrassing but........"Tim started but then realised the other three were missing.

Gibbs watched and listened to the discussion between Maddie and Kimberly.

"Maddie did you take Sarah's bracelet?"

"No!" Maddie said hands on hips. She wriggled around as her Mommy searched in her pockets finally coming up with the silver bracelet that Kimberly knew wasn't Maddie's.

"You DID take this Maddie." She accused. "Now I'm going to have to find a way to put it back before they find out you took it."

"No! I want it. Sarah has lots of jewellery. She doesn't need this one."

"Oh Maddie!" Kimberly said close to tears. She took the bracelet and put it in her pocket. She really didn't know what to do. Maybe she should tell Gibbs. He wanted to help, she knew he did but she could just imagine Gibbs' consequences for stealing. Maddie would never forgive her if she sent her to such a fate.

She dropped the bracelet into her pocket and turned back towards the house towing Maddie by the hand. As she turned the corner by the side of the house she bumped into a solid wall of pissed off Gibbs.

"Jess do you know where my bracelet is?" Sarah asked.

Jess nodded sadly.

"Who went in my room?" Sarah asked.

"Me and Maddie." Jess said sadly.

"Did you touch my bracelet?" Sarah asked.

"No. Maddie taked it!" she said starting to cry again. "She said she was gonna borrow it and bring it back when she was finished.I'm sorry Sarah I should've told."

Sarah kissed her pathetically wet little cheek. "It's ok Jess. You made a mistake." She said. "Now where is that Maddie!"

Ziva, Amber, Jimmy and even Tony were silently watching from the table. Even Tony realised that this was a little more serious than the usual antics that kept him amused every Sunday. Still they all kept watching. Couldn't help it really.

"Hand it over NOW!" Gibbs hissed in his deadly calm voice. Kimberly dug into her pocket and produced the bracelet.

"It's not what you think." She said.

"What do I think?" Gibbs asked.

"That I stole Sarah's bracelet."

"You think that's why I'm angry?"

"Isn't it?"

"No! I know damn well who took it. I'm angry because you were going to put it back so I didn't find out!" He said angrily scrubbing his face with his hands. While they were arguing, Maddie was gradually sneaking behind her Mommy in an effort to escape. No such luck. Gibbs caught her wrist just as she was about to escape. "Not so fast!" he said scowling at her.

"You're going to spank her aren't you?" Kimberly asked.

"Ya think?" he said leaning in close and placing a gentle kiss on the lips. "And not just her."

"But...."

Gibbs chuckled. "Oh don't even try to justify what you were about to do. I heard everything you said to Maddie." He bent over and took Maddie's chin in his hand and tilted her head up to look him in the eyes. "And you Miss, are in a mess of trouble." Maddie looked at the ground. He picked her up and started walking to where the hubbub was on the patio.

"Maddie was the one who stole the bracelet Sarah and she's very sorry aren't you?" Gibbs said talking to Sarah but staring firmly at Maddie.

Maddie narrowed her eyes and her glare travelled from Gibbs to Sarah and back again. "I..DIDN'T STEAL IT!" she shouted. "I BORROWED IT!" Gibbs slapped her bottom. "Tell Sarah that you're sorry now Maddie."

"No!" she said vehemently. "I'm not!" Gibbs shook his head and stormed inside to the family room and tipped a squirming Maddie over his knee.

The quiet crowd at the table all winced. "If she isn't sorry now, I have a feeling she soon will be." Tony said shaking his head. "You've gotta admit the kid has some pluck."

"I am not sure that, that would be the term to describe what she has Tony." Ziva said. They stopped talking when Kimberly and Abby sat nervously at the table to join them.

Tim took a sobbing Jess up to her room and sat on the bed with her. "You know you're in trouble too don't you?"

"Yes Daddy." Jess said. "I shouldn't have kept Maddie's secret. I told her not to take it but she wouldn't listen to me."

"I know. And I know that it's hard when a friend does something wrong and you don't want them to get in trouble. But Maddie sometimes it's important that you do tell and this is one of those times." He tipped her over his knee and lowered her jeans. He smacked her bottom hard just six times and stopped." He lifted her up and gave her a kiss on her cheek and cuddled her tightly to his chest. Jess cried like she had a broken heart. "Come on now. It wasn't that bad." He said.

"It's...it's not that. Maddie isn't gonna be my friend anymore. She said friends keep secrets."

"Oh sweetie. Maddie says a lot of things. But she's just six like you. And she was wrong when she said that. You'll see, tomorrow she'll forget all about this."

"Really?"

"Really!" Tim said kissing the top of her head. "Now let's go back downstairs."

As the group at the table sat in awkward silence Kimberly spoke quietly to rest of the table except Tony tried not to listen but it was nearly impossible because nobody else was speaking. "Ive made a mistake."

"What kind of mistake?"

"I found Maddie with the bracelet and I was going to put it back in Sarah's room but Jethro caught me with it." Their was an audible gasp that went around the table like a Mexican wave.

"Oh shit!" Abby said.

"You just used up your last chance again Abby." Tim said in her ear as he sat beside her.

Abby rolled her eyes. "Where's Jess?" she asked.

"Watching a movie with Dyl in his room. She didn't want to come downstairs. She's embarrassed."

"Why is she embarrassed Tim?" Abby said. "You spanked her, didn't you?"

"Um Yeh Abby.I did. She took someone into another person's room without permission and then stood by while that person..." "Sorry Kimberly" "Stole one of Sarah's things and didn't tell anyone. That's wrong Abby. Big wrong not just a little bit wrong."

Abby glared at Tim and then turned her face to Kimberly. "Sorry Kimberly what were you saying?" Tim rolled his eyes. It had been a while since he had taken Abby over his knee for her attitude but the time was coming. He could feel it in his bones.

Gibbs brought his hand down hard on Maddie's bottom. He had never in all of his days met such a wilful child. Another hard smack met with her already stinging bottom. Gibbs kept spanking Maddie ignoring her very loud crying until he thought that she had learned her lesson. He sat her up on his knee. "Look at me Maddie." He said gently. "You and I are going to end up in this position a lot, if you keep up with your attitude."

Maddie said nothing she just stared up into his face with tear filled eyes.

"If you throw tantrums. If you kick, hit, punch or pinch, if you don't respect adults, you swear or you steal, even if I'm not there at the time, I will find out. And I will spank your bottom. Do you understand?"

Maddie nodded. "I'm sorry Gibbs." She said quietly.

"I know honey." He said and he hugged her tightly. At first she remained stiff in his arms but finally she relented and hugged him back.

Kimberly leaned in to Abby. The bracelet?"

"Oh S...........sugar honey. You ARE in trouble." The others all nodded. Except Tim who was being filled in by Tony.

"I know. When I asked if he was gonna spank Maddie?" He said "Not just her."

"Have you ever thought of the old magazine down the jeans trick?" Tony offered helpfully.

Abby rolled her eyes. "You know he never falls for that one Tony."

"You could try crying." Ziva said.

"I'd run!" Amber said. "How did all this come out anyway?"

"Jess told me." Jimmy said. "And I told Tim."

""WOW!!! " Amber said. "I'm shocked!"

"Shocked at what Amber? That I know the difference between right and wrong?"

"No, just that you told Tim. I thought that Jess would've been able to win you over and you would have given in."

"I'm really not the pushover you seem to think I am. One day you might just find that out." He said curtly.

"Ooh I'm scared!" she said cheekily.

"Maybe you should be. A bit."

Silence reigned.

"Back to me and my very urgent problem!" Kimberly said. Turning to Abby she said "Do they always do that, talk over the top of each other and get off track?"

"Yep. Pretty much." She said. "We all like to talk. But sometimes we like to listen too." She said feeling like she had to defend her family.

Gibbs appeared and tapped Kimberly on the shoulder. "With me!" he said.

"Where's Maddie?" she said panicking.

"Upstairs in Dyls room. She apologised to Sarah and now she's laying on her tummy on Dyls bed with Jess and they're all watching a movie together." Kimberly was stunned."

Gibbs leaned in close. "Your turn." He said.

"But Jethro.....I....you can't.."

"Last chance to come on your own." He said.

"I think it'd be better if we talk about this later Jethro. Privately."

Gibbs pulled out her chair and before she knew what was happening he had her over his shoulder and she was getting an upside down view of her new friends tittering. Anger at her current situation was bubbling up inside her and as it exploded she punched Gibbs hard in his back in an effort to make him let her go. Nothing could have sealed her fate more than that punch. A split second after she had unleashed her anger there was another explosion as Gibbs hard palm met with her backside. Never in her life had Kimberly felt such an intense burn from just one smack. As he took a seat on the sofa in the living room, he lifted her down and over his knee. He wasted no time in paddling her backside with solid smacks.

"You will never....smack.....cover...up.....smack....for...that....child....smack........again......smack.......How....will...smack......

she.....ever....smack.......learn.....smack.....anything.....if....you.....smack......continue.....to....smack.......condone....

smack......her.....behaviour.......smack,smack,smack....." Kimberly twisted and turned, trying to get away from the smouldering inferno that Gibbs was lighting on her poor bottom. She was sure she would never sit again. As she finally gave up the fight and lay sobbing desperately over his lap, he stopped.

He rubbed circles all over her back to give her a chance to calm down. When her breathing had returned more to normal he lifted her up an pulled her into his arms. She cried quietly into his chest finding that his heart beat and arms that kept her close soothed her frayed nerves. Although she had never felt anything like the throb that strummed incessantly on her rear, she felt at peace. Tipping her head up towards his, she gladly parted her lips in acceptance of his tender kiss. And she had a feeling with that kiss she had sealed her fate.

TBC


	25. Chapter 25

I would just like to thank everyone for their lovly reviews and alerts. I'm sorry that some people felt I was too hard on Jess. It's just that I know from experience how damaging peer pressure can be if it isn't nipped in the bud.

I know the spelling and missing words were a problem in the last chapter but I did edit but it mustn't have saved properly and I just didn't notice until someone pointed it out this morning. So I apologise for that.

I'm sorry I still haven't caught up with the review replies but I do really appreciate them all. I will try to do better in the future. Thanks for continuing to read and review :)

Chapter 25

"Wow!!!" Amber said.

"Yep!" Tony said. "That had to hurt."

Abby was sitting with her hands over her eyes. Suddenly she opened her fingers a crack and peered through. "It's stopped and they're not making any sound at all. You don't think he's actually killed her do you? Timmy go and take a look." She said punching on the arm.

"Knock it off! And go and look your self. What? Do you think I have death wish?"

"Well I know I don't. That's why I'm sending you Timmy. Just pretend that you're getting us some drinks. Actually I could go for a beer. Anyone else?" At all the positive responses, she said. "See Timmy. Time to be a good host. Go and get us some drinks." She said with a grin.

"Every good host needs a hostess Abby. You're coming with me." He said taking her hand and pulling her with him. When they got away from the others he spun her around. "You are on very thin ice. You know that don't you?"

"What?!" she said with a sly smile.

"As they entered the kitchen Tim tried to be as quiet as possible opening the fridge. Abby was trying to see what was going on in the living room. "Abby!" Tim hissed. "Come away from there."

Abby was grinning widely. "Well at least I know he hasn't killed her." she whispered.

"Really?" Tim asked craning his neck.  
"Oh now you're interested." She said.

"Come on. Grab some beers." He said starting to go back out side.

"Yes Sir!" she said.  
"Cut it out! Abs." he said frowning.

Zac arrived to pick up Sarah and when he knocked on the door, the kids were on their way downstairs. Dylan opened the door and the girls went into the living room and just stood there watching Gibbs and Kimberly as they made out. Jess's mouth was open. Gibbs and Kimberly didn't notice them standing there until it was too late. Maddie's hands were on her hips. "Why are you kissing my Mommy Gibbs?" she asked candidly.

It wasn't often that Gibbs was lost for words. He WAS a man of few words but he always knew what to say and when to say it. Except for right now. He looked at Kimberly and smiled very widely. A smile that she was quick to return. And was that a blush? She thought. Who ever would have thought.

"GIBBS?" Maddie said louder. "Why are you kissing my Mommy? Are you her boyfriend?"

"I guess I am." He said. "If she wants me to be."

"Guess so." Kimberly answered smiling.

"Well that's just great!" Maddie said stomping off with Jess hard on her heels.

Gibbs rolled his eyes. "That went well. I'll go and talk to her."

"Maybe I should go." Kimberly said concerned about Maddie's reaction.

"Can I at least try first?"

"OK." She said as she stood to go outside and join the others.

Gibbs found Maddie and Jess sitting outside by the pool fence. Tim was about to see what the problem was when he saw Gibbs approaching. "Come on Jess, let's go and see what Rex and Lulu are up to." He said taking her hand.

"Why? I want to stay with Maddie."

"I think that Gibbs would like to talk to Maddie alone for a minute." He said quietly.

"Ok." She said taking her Daddy's hand.

Gibbs sat down on the grass next to Maddie. "Hey." He said wiping a few stay tears away with his thumb. "I guess it's a bit scary when things change, isn't it?"

"I'm not scared." She said.

"Oh? I would be if I was you. You probably think that I'm going to take all your Mommy's attention away from you."

Maddie eyed him off suspiciously but said nothing.

"That's not true. Your Mommy loves you just the same. It will be good for all of us you'll see."

"Are you gonna live with us?"

"Not at the moment. It takes grown ups a while to get to know each other first." Maddie smiled.

"But I'm still going to find out what you're up to when I'm not there so you'll have to be a good girl." Maddie's smile faded. "But, I'm also gonna find out when you're a really good girl and that will make me really happy and I might even get you a special treat."

"What kind of special treat?"

"You'll have to be a really good girl first and then you'll be able to find out."

Maddie seemed happier. He stood up and held out his hand. She took it shyly and followed him over to the table. Gibbs sat down next to Kimberly and lifted Maddie up onto his lap. He put his other arm around her mother, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze. So far so good. He thought. She's sitting here with us and she hasn't bitten or kicked me yet. Things are looking up.

Abby looked at everyone and said. "It's getting on towards five o'clock people. Anyone feel like hanging around for an early dinner?"

"Pizza?" Tony asked.

"If that's what everyone wants." Tim said. "Good idea Abs. We could play a game or something."

"Pictionary!" Abby said. Tim covered his face with his hands. This wasn't going to end could just tell.

"Yay! Pictionary. I love Pictionary!" Amber said. Everyone agreed, so Pictionary it was.

"Can I play too?" Maddie asked.

"Course you can. You can be on our team." Gibbs said smiling at Kimberly as Maddie laid her head on his chest.

"If Maddie's playing I want to play too." Jess said. "Of course you can play too Jess." Tim said. "Go and get Dyl and he can play as well." Jess ran off coming back a few minutes later with Dylan and Toby as well.

"Can Toby play too Dad?" Dyl asked.

"Yep the more the merrier. Actually that works out just right. Dyl, you can be on Jimmy and Amber's team and Toby you can be on Tony and Ziva's team.

"Tobster!" Tony said. "You got lucky." Toby walked over and took a seat shyly next to Tony.

Abby struggled outside with a large children's easel and drawing paper and some markers. "Ok." she said. "Everyone roll the dice and the highest number starts and then we'll go around the table clockwise. Any questions?"

Tim put up his hand. "How seriously are we gonna take this game Abby?" he asked.

"Same as usual McGee." She answered, daring him to criticize her game controlling skills. "I thought so." He said wincing.

"Just concentrate McGee, and there won't be a problem." She said happily though with an undertone of frustration. Tim was brilliant, but let's just say that Pictionary wasn't his best game. But Abby loved it.

Jimmy , Amber and Dylan's group landed on an object square. Drawiing the forst card Jimmy had to draw a chocolate chip cookie. He drew a head with an open mouth and next to it a circle with dot's in side. He drew an arrow pointing to the mouth and his team immediately screamed chocolate chip cookie! They whooped and hollered in celebration. Next was Tony who landed on a person space. He drew the card and had to draw 'Sandra Dee'. He drew a beach with sand and an arrow pointing to the sand. Then he drew the letter D. "Sandra Dee!" Ziva yelled out.

"Not allowed Tony. Your not allowed to use letters." Abby said. "Dis qualified. Miss a turn."

"Come on! Abby" Ziva said. You didn't tell us that you couldn't use letters."

"It's in the rule book." Abby said. "Stated very clearly. No using letters."

"He wasn't spelling Abby!" Ziva said frustrated. Gibbs stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled.

"Genuine mistake Abs. Let him draw another card." Abby pouted. Pacing behind Tim and Jess.

"Mommy's silly isn't she." Tim said. Turning around, he mouthed to Abby "Stop. It's only a game."

Abby stuck her tongue out at him behind his head, making Maddie giggle. Tony drew another card. This time he had to draw "Prince." He drew a boy with a crown on his head. Ziva and Toby immediately yelled "Prince!" They all high fived each other. Abby, still miffed at Tony getting a second chance, picked up the dice and the cup and slammed them down in front of Gibbs. "Your turn." she said adding a smile when Tim glared at her.

Gibbs threw the dice and landed on an action square. Choosing the card he had to draw 'shooting a basketball.' He picked up the marker and drew a stick figure, a basket ball and a hoop with a backboard. He drew an arrow pointing to the hoop and Kimberly said Basket ball. Gibbs drew a gun with bullets laughed and correctly guessed "Shooting a basket ball." Maddie bounced up and down and clapped. Next was team McGee's turn. Abby picked up the cup and threw the dice. Moving her player she landed on a person square. She drew a card and she had to draw 'Tiger woods.' She picked up the marker and drew a tiger. Next to it she started to draw trees. Lots of them. "Tiger!" Tim shouted. Abby pointed to the trees, looking as if she may burst. "Forest!" Tim shouted. But once he could see she was getting upset with him and his lack of Pictionary prowess, he could no longer think straight. His guessing just went from bad to worse. "Zoo!" "trees!" "forest gump" as she continued to point to the trees again and again he kept answering "trees!". He knew it was the wrong answer but the same word kept slipping out of his mouth. Her usual pale face was bright red with frustration. In desperation she started to draw scantly clad women. Lots of them. They all had fish net stockings and very high heels. Abby was going to burst. As the sand finally ran out of the egg timer she snapped.

"Tiger Fucking Woods McGee! " she tapped the marker angrily on the picture. "Prostitutes McGee lots of fucking prostitutes! Don't you get it? SHIT!"

The whole table was silent. Except for Tony whispering (not quietly enough)to Ziva "Kinda fits. Doesn't it? Tiger......." He was halted by Gibbs stare.

"I'm on it Gibbs." Ziva said as she slapped Tony in the back of the head.

This time it wasn't only Abby that was red in the face Tim was beyond furious. He knew that Abby thought him threatening her over her swearing was a joke but she had crossed the line this time. In truth she had been teetering on the line for a few days, but she was about to find out how serious he was. Pushing his chair backwards slowly he passed Jess to Jimmy and stood up. Abby knew she should have made a run for it but she was rooted to the spot. She couldn't believe what she had just done. What she had just said, in front of all the kids, not to mention being an obnoxious bad sport. Jess and Maddie's mouths were still hanging open. Dyl and Toby's faces were bright red with the effort of holding in their mirth. The rest of the adults weren't far behind the boys. Gibbs was disgusted with Abby's display but he could still see the funny side. After all, it was obvious by the way Tim was slowly rounding on her that she was about to get it. Big time. Still he glared at the others. Hoping to keep them from breaking out laughing. It was important that the kids didn't see that they thought it was funny.

Jess was the first one to recover. "Mommy! You said a really bad word! That's the really bad one!"

"Yes she did Jess." Tim said as tossed Abby over his shoulder.

"Are you gonna give Mommy a spanking?" Jess asked.

"Yes he is." Gibbs said intervening. "Because that's what happens to naughty people who say that word! So if anyone is thinking of repeating what they just heard, it's not a good idea."

"GiiiiiibbS!!!" Abby whined as she was being towed inside.

"Well I guess that concludes another fun Sunday's entertainment at the McGee house." Tony said. "Come on Tobster, I'll walk you home."

"Is he really gonna spank Jess's Mommy?" Maddie asked.

"Yep." Gibbs said tilting up her chin. "But what happens in this house, stays in this house. Understood." He said looking at all the kids not just Maddie. "If I hear of any part of today being talked about at school or anywhere else? Watch out! Got it?!" he said firmly. Four little heads bobbed up and down seriously.

When he got to their bedroom Tim set Abby down and sent her to the corner with nothing more that a pointing finger. When Abby tried to apologise she was briskly turned around and marched to the corner with some very hard smacks to help her on her way. Tim stalked into the bathroom and came back out with a new bar of soap. Abby really wanted to yell something at Tim, but self preservation kicked in and she jammed her mouth up tight.

Tim stood in front of her with the dreaded bar of soap in his hand. "Open." He said. There was no way that she was going to open her mouth for that bar of soap. She hadn't had that done to her since she was a child and she could still taste it. She folded her arms and kept her mouth tightly closed. " Last chance Abby." Tim said. Still she kept her mouth closed. "Your choice." He said tossing the soap onto the bed while he undid Abby's jeans and pulled them with her panties down to her knees. He tucked her under his arm and slammed his hand down on her bottom hard. He let the pain sink in before he landed another smack to match it, another half a dozen followed in the same manner. Abby's eyes were brimming with tears but her mouth remained shut. "Are you going to open your mouth" Tim asked. Abby shook her head. "Once again. Your choice. I know who'll get sick of it first." Grabbing her hand he took her over to the bed and sat down. He held the bar of soap up to show her and she shook her head and stomped her bare foot.

Tim never got over the stubbornness of this woman. It was one of the things he loved about her the most but at times like this it was so frustrating. This could've been over with already. Shaking his head he pulled her over his knee and started with the steady rhythm that always made her give in eventually. Tim thought he might hasten things with a lecture. "You Abby will stop.....smack,smack,smack......using that kind of language........... Smack, smack, smack. ...........Do you honestly think smack,smack,smack,........... that it's ok to swear like that in front of the kids?......... Smack,smack,smack....... Abby shook her head but Tim kept spanking.

"Are you ready to open your mouth because I'm not going to stop until you do?" Abby shook her head. Tears were flowing freely now but no sound came from her mouth until Tim started spanking her thighs. Smack, smack, smack on her right thigh. Smack, smack, smack on her left thigh and she was done. Opening her mouth and letting out a loud cry she finally had to admit to herself that she couldn't take any more. Tim stopped immediately and lay back on the bed pulling her on top of him, so that he could comfort her without her having to put weight on her burning rear. She sobbed sadly into Tim's chest. When she had calmed down a little she tilted her head so that she could see Tim's face. She always needed to see that the love was still there in his eyes. "I am sorry Timmy." She said. "I shouldn't have let things get so out of control."

"No you shouldn't, but you're almost forgiven. We still have one more thing to do.

"Oh Timmy no! Please!" Abby pleaded even though she knew that it was futile."

"Sorry Abs, but you've had enough chances to last a lifetime." He said as he pulled her to her feet. He took her over to the corner. "Open." He this time she did. He popped the dreaded bar of soap into her mouth. " Five minutes." He said. Abby wasn't wearing a watch so when Tim told her she could take it out and rinse her mouth after three minutes she had no idea she had been given a reprieve.

After she came back from the bathroom she walked into Tim's open arms. "So do you think you've finally got the message with the swearing?" he said kissing her gently.

"I hope so Timmy. I really do. But sometimes my mouth just has a mind of its own." She said.

"Oh well. I hope your mind knows what to expect." He said. "We better go back down stairs so Gibbs and Kimberly can go home."

"Yep. I just need to put on some clothes. I'll be right down."

Tim walked down to where Gibbs and Kimberly were clearing up the kitchen. "I'm sorry we took so long." Gibbs smirked.

"Stubborn little thing isn't she?"Gibbs said.

"You have no idea. Well actually you probably do." Tim chuckled.

"She alright?"

"Of course she is Boss. Her pride's probably just as hurt as her backside. She'll be back to her usual bouncing self by tomorrow. Hopefully her language will be slightly less colourful.......... You don't have to do that." Tim said trying to take the dishtowel from Kimberly."

"It's done now anyway." She said. "We should be going. The kids have to go to school tomorrow." Tim nodded.

"Oh and Tony and Ziva and Jimmy and Amber said to say goodbye. They all have early starts. As do the rest of us."

"Well thank you both for coming. Despite everything it was a good day." Tim said.

Gibbs flashed a brilliant smile as he looked at Kimberly. "It sure was." He said.

TBC


	26. Chapter 26

Thank you all for reviews and alerts.I really appreciate them. Thanks for reading. I'm sorry that this isn't a very long chapter. I struggled a little with it today. I hope you like it :)

Chapter 26

By the time Abby came downstairs, Everyone had gone and the kids were getting into their pyjamas . "Oh no Tim." Abby said. "We asked everyone to stay for dinner and we didn't feed them."

"Well, everyone has to go to work and school tomorrow and we had a bit of a distraction. I'm sure they understood."  
"And they didn't know where to put their faces and couldn't get out of here quick enough?"Abby asked.

"Maybe." Tim said with a coy smile.

"I kind of out did myself tonight huh?" she said.

"You know you did Abs."

"And what about the kids?"

"I didn't know what you wanted to do about dinner but the kids kind of had their hearts set on pizza."

"Fine with me. It's late but I guess it won't hurt for once."she said.

"I'll call. The usual?"

"Yeh. Whatever. I don't mind." Tim looked at her, worried that she was going to be holding a grudge. "Unfortunate choice of words Tim. That's all. I'm fine. I didn't mean the 'whatever' whatever. I just meant I don't mind. Get what the kids like. I ruined enough of their night as it is."

"So you're ok? You don't think I was too harsh?"

"You're asking the wrong person Timmy. I probably won't be able to taste anything for weeks and hey, I can sleep on my stomach tonight." When she saw his worried look, she cupped his face in her hands. "Relax Timmy. I'm joking! I was way, way out of line. I get it."

"I love you Abby McGee." He said tenderly.

"Probably just as well huh?" she said wrapping her arms around him. "I love you too."

"Mommy are we still having pizza?" Jess asked bounding into the room.

"We sure are chikky." Abby said picking her up and cuddling her.

"Are you ok Mommy?" she said with genuine concern

"I'm fine. Don't you worry about me." Abby said kissing her cheeks.

"You shouldn't have outta said that bad word Mommy." Tim looked at Abby sympathetically. Out of the mouths of babes he thought.

"I know sweetie." Abby said. "I made a mistake."

Lifting her out of Abby's arms he set her down."How about, you go and tell Dyl that the pizza will be here in about fifteen minutes so to hurry up in the shower. Say Daddy said he hasn't heard any water running yet." Jess ran off on her errand. Nothing made her happier than having permission to be bossy to her brother.

"I'm a really bad Mommy aren't I?" Abby said burying her face in Tim's chest.

"If you ever say that again Abs, you'll end up back over my knee again. You are a wonderful mother. But, you're human like the rest of us. You just have a few control issues. And a slight problem with sportsmanship. And there is the bad language. I'm telling you though, if we ever play Pictionary again in a group with the kids? You're gonna be on Gibbs' team. Let's see what happens if you yell obscenities at him."

Abby grinned her best smart ass grin. "Wouldn't have to." She said tilting her face up to his. "He can play!" Tim chuckled.

"Well there is that!" he said.

By the time they had some plates and silverware on the table, the pizza had arrived. Abby darted up the stairs to fetch Dylan who still hadn't come down. She knocked on his door and then opened it. She found him in his pyjamas sitting on his bed looking at a book. "Hey Dyl." She said looking at him curiously. "The pizza's here."

"I'm not hungry. Can I just go to bed?" he said not looking her in the eye.

"It's pretty hard for me to believe that you're not hungry. You don't feel sick do you?" Abby said getting really concerned leant in to feel his forehead. No wasn't right here. This was not their Dyl."is something bothering you honey?"

" tired." He said pulling back the comforter on his bed.

Abby quickly sat down, preventing him from getting in. She had to make a real effort not to wince as she sat. Unfortunately, she had a fair idea what was bothering Dyl. Damn it McGee! She thought as she tried to discetely shift her weight. Did you have to do such a thorough job? She was gonna have to really try much harder to control herself. He was getting way too good at this spanking business. Trying not to show Dylan how uncomfortable she was she lifted him into her lap.

"MOom! He protested. "I'm too big."

"You're not too big." She said tickling him. "Now, tell me what the problem is?"

"It's nothin." He said quietly.

"I know that's just not true. Now does it have anything to do with what happened downstairs?"

Dylan nodded.

"Are you mad?" she asked. Dylan shook his head.

"Are you embarrassed?" Eureka! She could see it in his face. "Because I got in trouble?" Again with the silent nodding.

"Look Dyl, there's nothing to be embarrassed about. I made a very silly mistake and Dad wasn't happy. The same as he's sometimes not happy with you or Sarah or Jess when you do the wrong thing. We sorted it out and we had a kiss and a cuddle and now everything is fine."

"I heard you crying." He said, his head still down. "And I heard..........I heard... what Dad....."

Abby really didn't think she would ever be embarrassed about getting spanked, but explaining it to your children is another thing entirely. "Ok." she said hugging Dyl even closer while she tried to come up with just the right words.

"You heard Dad spanking me?" Dylan nodded his head.

"Dyl, I told you we worked things out and we did. You don't need to worry about that. Look at me. Do I look the same?" He nodded.

"If you're ok then why were you crying?" he asked.

"Because........well Dyl just like for you when you get a spanking, it hurt, and I felt bad that I had acted so silly and ruined everyone's game. But now I feel better and everything is back to normal. Ok?"

"I guess." He said starting to smile. "Do you think there's any pizza left?"

"We better hurry before Dad and Jess eat it all." She said putting out her hand for him.

Usually he said he was too big but tonight he took it. Abby had the strange but nice feeling he was humouring her.

When they got into the kitchen Where Tim and Abby had set the table Jess was already tucking into her first slice of pizza. Normally Tim would have made her wait for the others but when Abs hadn't come back down he knew that something must be wrong and Jess was starving. His eyes were asking Abby 'what 's wrong?' And Her's were answering 'I'll tell you later'. So they sat down and enjoyed their pizza leaving any more in depth discussions for later.

Later on that night when the kids were in bed Tim and Abby were laying on the sofa together. "So what was the problem with Dyl?" Tim asked.

"Oh Tim,you've no idea ! That was soooo embarrassing. For both of us. He heard me getting spanked and crying."

Tim covered his face with his hands. "Oh God! I'm so sorry Abs. Do you think I should go and talk to him about it?"

"I don't know. What do you think? Maybe we should just wait and see if it comes up again. He was alright at dinner. If he starts acting differently towards you, maybe then. I tried to make it sound as normal as I could. He accepted my explanation, such as it was."

"And what was it?"

"The truth."

"Novel approach for you Abs!" he said tickling her.

"What can I say? He caught me off guard."

"So, I bet you're very pleased with yourself over the whole Kimberly thing?"

"Well to give credit where credit is due Timmy, you have to admit that it was a stroke of genius on my part." She said grinning from ear to ear. "You were such a doubting Thomas. I think I deserve a 'you were right Abs'." she said.

"It seems to be going ok, but I'm reserving my judgement. I think it might be the calm before the storm."

"Tiimmmyy! Don't say negative stuff like that. You'll jinx them." she said covering her ears. "You have to admit though that they're cute."

"We'll see Abs. Now I don't know about you, but I'm ready for bed. You Coming?" he said holding out his hand.

"Sure am."

"What are we having for dinner?" Maddie asked from her spot on the sofa where she was watching television.

"How about pizza." Gibbs said. At Kimberly's invitation, he had followed her home and was going to join them for dinner.

"I usually have nuggets for dinner." She said.

"Pizza might be nice for a change Maddie." Kimberly said.

"I usually have nuggets MOMMY." She said ignoring Gibbs. There was no way he was going to be the boss here in this house she thought.

"We're going to have pizza tonight Maddie." Gibbs said. "But if you'll at least try a few bites then you can have some nuggets."

"Mommy, can I have nuggets? I'm hungry." She said as if Gibbs wasn't there.

"You heard Gibbs." She said nervously. "We're having pizza."

"Why does he get to choose?" Maddie asked, not happy with this new turn of events.

"Because." Kimberly said.

"Because why?"

"Because he and I agreed and we're the adults." Good answer, Gibbs thought.

"Well if I don't like it I'm having nuggets." Maybe they just don't understand what I want she thought.

"If you don't at least try the pizza, you'll go to bed without your dinner. I didn't say you had to eat all of it, just that you had to try a few bites." Gibbs said.

Maddie glared at Gibbs and picked up the remote and turned up the volume.

When the pizza arrived, Gibbs collected it from the boy at the door and brought it to the table. He waited until Kimberly had grabbed a slice and then he put a small piece on Maddie's plate. She put her face down near it and sniffed. Predictably she screwed her face up in disgust. "It smells yucky." She said.

"I think it's great! Gibbs said taking a big bite."

"Mmmm. So do I. This is really good Maddie." Her Mommy said.

"I don't wanna have it." She said. "It smells bad."

"Just a couple of bites Maddie and I'll go and make you some nuggets myself." Gibbs said.

"I want my Mommy to do it." She said.

"Fine." Gibbs said losing patience. "Eat a couple of bites and Mommy can make you some nuggets."

Maddie picked a tiny piece off the edge of her slice and held it like it was poison. Lifting it slowly to her mouth she stuck her tongue out and licked the cheese. It actually wasn't that bad. She didn't know what she should do. If she ate it, he won. If she didn't, she might have to go to bed hungry and she was hungry already after missing lunch. Maybe she might just have to eat a few bites and then get her nuggets. Popping the piece in her mouth she made faces while she chewed it even though she didn't mind it at all. She washed it down finally with mouthful of juice. Looking up to see if anyone was noticing, she actually made the next piece a bit larger. She chewed it slowly, making sure not to look happy. Finally she broke off the third piece and chewed it up in the same fashion." Gibbs smirked. She's pretending! The little devil he thought.

"Good girl Maddie!" Kimberly exclaimed jumping off her seat to fetch the nuggets as soon as she saw the third mouthful hit Maddie's lips." Gibbs rolled his eyes.

"That was a good try." Gibbs admitted whipping the pizza plate away. If she was playing games here, he wasn't going to leave it where she could sneak it when they weren't looking. Maddie watched wistfully as the pizza disappeared. She brightened though when her Mommy returned with her least she wasn't gonna starve. Gibbs smiled. At least they had managed to get through the rest of the night without an argument.

When they all arrived in the bullpen the next morning, Gibbs definitely had a spring in his step. They were all wondering whether he had in fact spent the night with Kimberly and Maddie but no one dared to actually ask the question.

TBC


	27. Chapter 27

Thank you so much for all your lovely reviews and alerts. As always, they make my day. I'm really tired so I will apologise in advance for any bad spelling. I hope you enjoy the chapter :)

Chapter 27

That day Abby was dancing around her lab preparing evidence samples ready to be tested and waiting for her babies to perform their everyday miracles on the ones already set in progress. As she danced into her office she felt a vibration in her pocket. She pulled the cell phone out of her pocket and flipped it open. "Abby McGee's phone!" she answered in her usual bright voice. She frowned and walked over to turn down her music so that she could hear. "Amber? Amber is that you? Honey why are you crying?"

"Abby, do......you....think....we.....could have.......lunch? And maybe...could you...ask....Ziva?" she said between sobs.

"Yeh sure we can. But what's wrong Amber? Is it you and Jimmy?"

"Sort of. I'll........I'll tell you when I see you. Is it alright if we eat in your lab? I don't really wanna have this conversation in public."

"Ok, I'll order some lunch for about one o'clock." Abby said worried. Jimmy was pretty cranky yesterday. I hope they haven't broken up. Abby wondered to herself.

Opening her phone back up she dialled Ziva. "Hey Zi, I just got a call from Amber. She needs to do lunch........One o'clock, my office, ok? I really don't know. She wouldn't tell me. She said she'd tell us at lunch."

Back up in the bullpen Ziva slowly hung up the phone. As usual Tony didn't miss a trick. "What's happening Zi?"

"Nothing." She said casually. "I am having lunch with Abby and Amber."

"Something up?" he said raising his eyebrows.

"Why does there always have to be something 'up'. Why can we not just have lunch with the girls without you assuming something is 'up'?"

Tony thought for a minute..... "Because, my love, every time that Abby calls here to ask you to go to lunch with her and Amber? Something IS up."

"Well if it is she did not tell me. We are having lunch. That is it." Ziva said closing the subject.

"Hmmff!" he huffed. "Want to have lunch today Tim?"

"Yeh why not. Why don't you see if Jimmy can come too." He said. "Boss?"

"I'll pass. Thanks."

"Paper work?" Tony asked.

"Don't wanna listen to you three whining about your ladies and what they're up to." He said.

At about five to one, Ziva grabbed her bag and headed down to Abby's lab. "So you have no idea why Amber wanted to have lunch?"

"No idea. All I know is she was crying so much that she could hardly talk. She said she'll tell us at lunch and she asked if we could do lunch here because she wanted privacy."

"Really." Ziva said intrigued.

"Do you think that she and Jimmy have had a fight?" Abby asked. " he was acting a bit funny yesterday."

"Mmm. We are going to find out soon. Here she comes."

Tim, Tony and Jimmy were sitting at a table at the local diner waiting for their food to be brought to the table. "So Jimbo, why do YOU think that the girls are having lunch?" Tony asked.

"I don't really know. I've been trying to call Amber all morning and she won't answer her cell. Maybe I've done something." He said quietly.

"Are you fighting?" Tim asked.

"No. I don't think so." Jimmy said.

"What do you mean 'you don't think so' ? " Tony said sarcastically. "how can you not know if you're arguing? Was there shouting? Did you disagree about something?"

"Not that I know of." Jimmy said trying to think.

"Jimmy think man. Whenever women stop talking to you there is always some kind of a hint. Something."

"Leave him alone Tony. Maybe she's just been really busy. Or she didn't have her phone on her."

"Nope! Geez Tim where are your investigative skills. If she was so busy, why did she make time to have lunch with the girls, and if she didn't have her phone on her, how did she phone Abby to make plans?"

Tim rolled his eyes. "Maybe I was letting my diplomacy skills over shadow my investigative skills." He said glaring at Tony.

"Oh. Your right. Probably a very simple explanation Jimbo." Now it was Jimmy's turn to roll his eyes.

Back at the lab, Abby crushed Amber in a big hug and passed her a box of tissues when the waterworks started all over again. Ziva patted her shoulder awkwardly and pulled her over to a chair.

"Tell us. What is this all about. Is it Jimmy?" Ziva asked

Amber's crying slowed and she dug around in her purse. "Here." Abby said passing her the box of tissues again. "Use mine."

"I'm not looking for tissues Abs." she said sadly still digging in her purse.

Finally finding what she had been looking for she held up her find.

"Amber!" Abby said pulling her into another hug as she cried.

"OHhh. You're pregnant?" Ziva said.

"What am I gonna do?" she said. "I'm still in school. Although this is my last year. But so is Jimmy. We can't have a baby now can we? "

"You would not be the first." Ziva said smiling. "This is cause for celebration no?"

"Of course it is." Abby said "And parenthood is very rewarding." Abby said.

"What did Jimmy say?" Ziva asked.

"I haven't told him yet."

"Why not?" Abby said. "He'll be stoked."

"I don't know. I guess.......once I tell him, it'll be real and I can't pretend that it's not happening."

"Is that how you feel? That you don't want it to happen?" Ziva asked.

Amber thought about that question. "No. I don't want it not to happen. I'm just scared I guess."

"Look. You and Jimmy love each other right?" Abby asked.

"Of course we do. We get a bit irritated with each other sometimes...."

"Yeh well don't worry about that. It's normal. Stops it from being boring."

"So what are you scared of?"

"I don't know. What if we're not ready to be good parents?"

"Amber, you can't really do much to get ready to be a parent. It's kind of like one of those jobs where you get on the job training. And you have us. We'll all help. We're your family and Jimmy's."

"You do know what you have to do now?" Ziva asked her seriously.

"Tell Jimmy?" Amber said tentatively.

"Yes. He has a right to be excited about this from the beginning. The same as you. And, the longer you leave it the harder it will be."

"So that's settled then. We'll get the boys back ?" Abby asked. "Don't answer that. I have a better idea. Ziva and I will go and find them and then we'll send Jimmy back. Then you can tell him here, in my office without an audience. What do you think?"

"Yes. I think yes. Amber said with a big smile.

Abby jumped up and down and grabbed her cell phone out of her pocket. Speed dialling Tim, she started talking before he even had a chance to answer properly.

"Whoa Abs slow down."

"Sorry Timmy. I need to know where you are."

"We're in the diner. Everthing alright?"

"Yeh fine. I'll see you in a bit, don't go anywhere. Tell Jimmy he has to come to my lab. Amber wants to talk to him."

"Okay.." Tim said slowly "But....." too late she was gone.

"Ah Jimmy? Abby says you have to go to her lab. Amber wants to talk to you." Tim said.

"Why ?" he said making no move to leave.

"Didn't say. But you better hurry if you want to know what all this is about."

"I don't know if I do." Jimmy said. "What if she wants to dump me?"

"Na man." Tony said. "She's crazy about you. Otherwise why would she put up with all of us? Especially the McBrats." Tony said chuckling.

"Hey! You're just as annoying as my kids." Tim said.  
"And just as cute." He answered.  
"Jimmy, you better go." Tim said.

"Yeh. Right." He said getting up and going for his wallet.

"My treat." Tim said. "Go."

Jimmy had not long gone when Abby burst through the door with Ziva close behind her.

"What's all this about Abs? Did Jimmy do something?"  
Abby laughed. "Must have."

"Did they have a fight?" Tony asked.

"No fight." Ziva said.

"We'd love to tell you but it's not really our place." Abby said.

"Well, when can you tell us?" Tim asked getting as curious as Tony now.

"Soon." Abby said.

Amber was sitting in Abby's chair in her office chewing her lip. What if Jimmy wasn't happy? What if he didn't even want to be with her? What is he wasn't ready to be a Daddy? Amber put her face in her hands and let the tears again roll down her cheeks.

Jimmy stood outside the glass door silently, watching was obviously upset about something. Jimmy's heart went out to her. He wanted nothing more than to just go in there and take her in his arms and tell her everything was going to be alright. But what if it wasn't going to be alright? What if she did want to break up with him? He didn't know if he could take it. Jimmy had loved her from the very first minute he saw her. There was no way that he could ever conceive being with anyone else. If she broke up with him, that would be it. He would die lonely. Still it was time he knew. Opening the door, he slipped softly inside.

"Hey Amber." He said. "Are you ok?"

"Hi." She said shyly, and then burst into tears. She jumped up and ran into his arms and sobbed into his chest as he held her. Jimmy was at a loss.

"Amber is everything alright? Please, your killing me here. I have to know. Have I done something? Are you angry with me? Do.....do you want to break up with me?" He said almost choking on the words.

"Break up with you? Jimmy I love you. I.........I'm........" getting the stick out of her pocket, she held it up. "Jimmy we're gonna have a baby."

"What was that?" he said sure that he couldn't have heard right. But then he looked at the stick she was showing him. Two pink lines. A baby. He and Amber were going to have a baby? They were going to have a baby! And didn't she just say she loved him? A smile started at the corners of Jimmy's lips, and slowly spread until his whole face was lit up with a brilliant smile. He picked Amber up and swung her around and then placed her back in the chair gently. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have spun you like that. It's just that I'm so happy. I'm ecstatic. Oh Amber. Are YOU happy?"

"I am now. I was so scared to tell you. I didn't know how you'd take it. Whether it would be the right time."

"Oh Amber you never have to be scared to tell me anything. Doesn't matter about timing. How can a little baby be anything else but a blessing? But why didn't you say anything yesterday?"

"It honestly didn't occur to me that I might be until this morning when I threw up. I was late, but that's not unusual, so I........"

"It's ok. Doesn't matter any way. So when are we gonna tell everyone?"

"Whenever you like. As soon as they get back from lunch."

"I'll just text Abby and tell her to meet us in the bullpen." She said. "Jimmy, Abby and Ziva already know. I hope you don't mind. I needed some help to get my thoughts in order."

"I had a feeling you must have told them. That's ok. Nothing could spoil today for 's only one thing that would make it perfect. Jimmy dropped to one knee. "Amber would you marry me?" he said.

"Jimmy would you have asked me if I wasn't pregnant?" Amber said watching his face.

Jimmy dug into his pocket and dug out a small velvet box. "Does this answer your question. I didn't know about the baby when I bought this. So will you?"

"Yes,yes,yes." Amber said launching herself at him.

As Abby's cell indicated a message, she stood up. "Come on! We have to go!" she said grabbing Timmy's hand and pulling him out of the booth. Ziva and Tony got up to follow them.

"What the hell's going on Abby?" Tony asked .

"You'll see." she said.

When they got to the bullpen Jimmy and Amber were waiting. Amber had her hands behind her back. "What's all this about?" Gibbs asked.

"I'm sorry Sir, as soon as Dr Mallard gets here we'll tell you and then get back to elevator dinged announcing the arrival of Ducky."

"Thank you for coming Dr." Jimmy said. Everyone pricked there ears up. "Just a quick announcement. Amber and I would like to announce two events." Abby and Ziva grinned widely, although Ziva contained her excitement a little bit more than Abby did."Firstly, I have asked Amber to be my wife and she has accepted. Everyone shouted their congratulations. Even Gibbs was smiling widely. He secretly thought that Amber and Jimmy were perfect for each other. "There's one more thing. We are also expecting a baby."

"Congratulations dear boy." Ducky said patting him on the back. "And you too of course Amber."

"Congratulations both of you!" Gibbs said shaking Jimmy's hand and kissing Amber's cheek.

Abby hugged both of them with tears in her eyes. "Yay! A wedding to plan and a baby!" She said excitedly.

"Congratulations." Ziva said kissing them both on both cheeks.

Tim patted Jimmy on his back. "So she didn't want to break up with you then?" he chuckled. "Congratulations Jimmy and you too Amber."

"What I don't understand." Tony said "Is how two people that are in medical school can get accidentally pregnant! Don't they teach you about that stuff?"

Gibbs slapped him in the back of the head.

He grinned. "Congratulations guys! I'm happy for you. Always room for one more."

TBC


	28. Chapter 28

Thankyou for all the lovely reviews and alerts. Sorry this chapter is late but I needed a break. And today was my little boy's first football game of the season. Couldn't miss that could I? Hope your all still enjoying the story :)

Chapter 28

That night at the McGee dinner table, Jess was overcome with excitement at the idea of Amber and Jimmy getting married. "She's just gonna be like Bridal Barbie with pink flowers and a veil. But Jimmy can't wear his glasses."

"Jess! That's not very nice. Why would you say a thing like that?" Abby said.

"I wasn't being mean." Jess said offended. "But Groom Ken doesn't wear glasses."

"Oh. I see." Tim said while Abby smiled.

"No, he could just be BLIND Ken and stagger around everywhere knocking things over." Dyl said giggling and then getting up to give a demonstration by sticking his arms out and shutting his eyes while he proceeded to bump into Jess from behind.

"Make him stoppp." she whined.

"Sarah joined in the giggling but stopped when she saw that Jess was getting upset.

"Apologise to your sister and then sit down and finish your dinner Dylan." Tim said.

"Sorry Jess." he said, sitting back down. "Geez can't anyone take a joke around here anymore." He gave Jess a poke in the leg under the table.

"Stopppp." she whined.

"I have stopped. What did I say now?" Dylan said.

"I didn't said you said anything."

"That's what I said." Dylan said poking her again.

Jess took a swipe at him and knocked over his juice. Then promptly burst into tears. Sarah mopped up Dylan's drink while glaring at him. While she wasn't about to tell on him she had seen what he was doing to Jess.

"Stop it right now. Both of you or there'll be no dessert for either of you. There will be no hitting....." he said looking at Jess "or POKING UNDER THE TABLE", he said to Dyl. Are we clear?"

"Yes Dad." "Yes Daddy." They said simultaneously.

"Anything exciting happen at school today kids?" Abby asked eager to change the subject.

"We're going on a field trip to the zoo." Jess said happily. They want parents to come and help. I've got a note in my backpack."

"Oh that sounds like fun." Abby said.

"Maddie's Mommy is gonna go. Will one of you go?" Jess asked pleadingly.

"Well, I can't promise sweetie. If we have a case, we'd have to cancel." Abby said feeling guilty and looking at Tim.

"When is it?" Tim asked.

"Friday." She said hopefully.

"Friday? Jess that's not much notice honey. How long have you had the note?"

"I don't know." She said shrugging her shoulders. "I just found out that Maddie's Mom is going, today."

"Have we even paid for this thing?" Tim asked Abby.

"Yeh it's included in the tuition I'm pretty sure. Do you want me to call Kimberly and ask her?"

"Might be better to make sure." He said.

Abby listened to the phone ringing at the other end for quite a long time and she was actually going to hang up when Kimberly finally answered. Abby could hear Maddie carrying on about something in the and then a smack? Gibbs must be there.

"Can you talk for a minute? Or have I called at a bad time?" Abby asked.

"No it's fine. Jethro is here. He'll take care of it. Just Maddie being Maddie and Jethro being Jethro. She wants to eat in front of the TV and he wants her to eat at the table."

"Oh. Sorry. How's all that going?"

"Not too bad. She's trying to at least taste a few different things but under duress. I thought she'd accepted Jethro and me but tonight she's very angry."

"Of course she is. Somebody's picked up her world and shaken it. But when things settle she'll be better off and so will you. Maybe things have gotta get worse before they get better." Abby said positively.

"I hope so. I mean I hope they get better, not worse." Kimberly said.

"Of course they will. Think positive and trust Gibbs. He's all hard tough man on the outside but on the inside he's sweet and gooey."

"I'm trying."

"Yes you're very trying." Abby joked, trying to lighten the mood. "Listen why I called, is the field trip to the zoo covered in the tuition?"Abby asked.  
"Yes it is. I've got to go with them. They weren't prepared to take Maddie along unless I volunteered to go as well." She said sighing.

"Jess would love one of us to come but I don't know what will happen with work."

"Oh I wish you could come. I get a horrible feeling when I go on these things on my everyone's talking about me behind my back."

"Well I'll have to see what Gibbs says." Abby said. "Things have gone quiet there now."

"Yeh, I better go. Jethro finally has her at the table. See you."

Tim looked up as Abby came back into the room. "Yep. Already paid for." Abby said. "Gibbs was there having dinner."

"Really!" Tim said.

Abby nodded while giving Timmy a knowing look. "So Jess? Did Maddie say anything about Gibbs?"

"Abby." Tim said, shaking his head discretely.

"Yep. She said he was mean. And that she liked the pizza that he got but she didn't eat it all 'cause she didn't want him to win."

"Really!" Tim said. "And what did you say?"

"I said he couldn't help it. On account of it's his job to be mean."

"Did she say whether Gibbs was mean to her this morning as well as last night?" Abby enquired nonchalantly.

"Abby!!!" Tim said not discretely at all this time."That's enough." Sarah choked on her juice and spat it all over the table.

"That is soooo gross!" Dyl said as wiped Sarah's juice off his arm.

"Sorry Dyl." Sarah said trying not to laugh. Not surprisingly. Abby was the one who Tim directed his frown at.

"Oh well!" She said "Enquiring minds need to know Timmy and I did stop short of actually asking her to ask."

"Just as well." He said sternly.

"Besides, if I'm going on a field trip with Kimberly, I can ask her myself." She said with a cocky tilt to her head.

"Oh Abby please!!! This is GIBBS' private life your sticking your nose into."

Abby was about to jokingly poke out her tongue, but looking at the kids, she decided it wasn't the right thing to do. She blew him a kiss instead. And then smiled.

Later when the kids were in bed, Abby and Tim were in the living room in the semi dark talking. "So, big news for Jimmy and Amber." Abby said.

"Yeh. I'm happy for Jimmy. You should have seen him at lunch. He didn't know why she wouldn't answer his calls and when she wanted to talk to him in your lab, He thought she was gonna break up with him."

"Oh poor Jimmy. Amber was thinking the same thing. That maybe he wasn't ready to be a dad."

"It's too late now! Baby's on its way. Actually, I think Jimmy will be a great father."

"So do I Timmy. And you'll help him. You're a great father."

"Thankyou. And you're a great Mom."

"Thanks Timmy. I try. I love my kids but I know I'm a work in progress." Timmy grinned.

"I wouldn't have you any other way Abs."

"What do you think about Gibbs and Kimberly?"

"I don't know. I guess he'll be good for her. For them."

"That's not what I meant Timmy. Do you think they're having sex?"

"Abby!!! I do not want to even think about Gibbs' sex life."

This time kids being in bed, she did poke out her tongue. Followed by a one finger salute before she ran up the stairs giggling with Tim very close on her heels.

Finally Friday came and thanks to Gibbs wangling a few things and no new cases coming up, Abby was able to go on the field trip with Jess and her class. There was one other mother and a teacher's aid as well as the regular teacher. They were each assigned four kids. Except for Kimberly who only had Maddie and one other child. A boy who's name was Sam. Abby had Jess, another little girl called Amy and two little boys called Mason and Adam.

The fact that Maddie was a handful was a well known fact, which is why Kimberly was only given one extra child. A very well behaved child at that. The teacher was sure that he wouldn't give her any trouble at all. They didn't account for the fact that Maddie on a bad day cold easily make up for two naughty children. Possibly even three.

Abby's head was already thumping from listening to Maddie whine before the bus was even off the school grounds. "Why can't Jess be with me. I don't wanna be with dumb Sam. You know I don't like boys. It's not fair."she grumbled.

"Maddie, it wasn't up to me to decide who was matched with who. Sam seems like a very nice little boy." She said smiling at him kindly. Sam looked like he wanted to jump off the bus or under it.

"I want Jess!" Maddie said narrowing her eyes at her mother.

"Sorry Maddie it's out of my hands." Kimberly said after rolling her eyes at Abby and looking out of the window. Maddie decided to change tactics.

"Wouldn't you rather be with me Jess, than with Amy and those stupid boys." Maddie said nastily. Jess didn't know what to say, she didn't really like being with Maddie when she was like this and she really wanted to be with her Mommy. She didn't say anything. She just hung on to Abby's hand for grim death. "Jess! Listen to me! Don't you wanna be in MY group?" Jess's head nodded but her hand still clung onto her mother's.

Abby leaned towards her. "Not happening Maddie. Now shushhh."

Maddie folded her arms and pouted while she gave Abby filthy looks. Abby carried on talking to her little group and didn't take any notice. She could easily handle pouting from Maddie as long as she stopped whining just for a little while.

The main topic of conversation was what type of animals were the kids favourites. Abby liked the hippos. For obvious reasons. Jess liked the penguins. Mason liked the alligators and Adam loved Gorillas. They discussed the likely hood of seeing their favourite animals there. What the animals liked to eat and when they slept and when they were awake. Abby talked to her group about how important it was to stay together and what to do if they got lost.

Kimberly tried to talk to both Maddie and Sam. Maddie was still pouting and Sam smiled but looked petrified. Kimberly looked scared herself. She really didn't know how to engage this little boy and stop Maddie from carrying on at the same time. Abby felt sorry for Kimberly who was trying and her heart went out to poor Sam who'd ended up getting stuck in Maddie's group. She didn't feel sorry at all for Maddie who was acting like a total brat. Actually, she would gladly give her a couple of smacks herself, if she thought she could get away with it.

Looking at Sam, Abby made a decision to sacrifice her own sanity to save the day for poor the poor child. "I know, why don't the three of you walk around WITH us. That way we all get to be together.

"You wouldn't mind?" Kimberly said looking at Abby with very grateful eyes. Maddie bounced up and down on her seat looking over the moon. "No I don't mind. But you better behave yourself Maddie. Look!I've got something to show you."

Abby opened her cell phone and scrolled down the names. She leaned over to Maddie. "Look. One press of the button and I can be talking to Gibbs." Maddie narrowed her eyes at Abby and Abby returned the look. There was no way she was going to be intimidated by this six year old little devil.

A little while later the bus pulled up outside the zoo and they all piled out. Abby had her group stand behind her in two pairs holding hands. This didn't please Maddie at all. "Why can't Jess hold my hand?" she said stomping her foot.

"Because I have been assigned these kids and they have to stay in my group. You and Sam can walk with us but you both have to stay with your Mommy. It's the rule. Otherwise someone might get lost."

"That's a stupid rule." Maddie said stomping her foot.

Abby was sick of arguing with Maddie so she decided to just try ignoring her instead. The teacher came and gave them each a schedule and a map and told them where the first meeting spot would be. Ok, looks like our first visit is going to be with the Gorillas. The children cheered. All except for Maddie who was still scowling.

"Alright Adam! You got your wish first!" Abby said, patting Adam on the head affectionately.

As they watched the gorilla's in there life like environment Abby couldn't get over how close to human their families really were. There were the quiet little ones that hung near their mothers and the mischievous ones that would hit and tease the others. But Abby came across an information plaque that really made her smile. She had to call Kimberly over to show her.

The sign was explaining about the Mountain Gorillas in the wild. It read.

_Troops are led by one dominant, older adult male, often called a silverback because of the swath of silver hair that adorns his otherwise dark fur. Those who challenge this alpha male are apt to be cowed by impressive shows of physical power. He may stand upright, throw things, make aggressive charges, and pound his huge chest while barking out powerful hoots or unleashing a frightening roar. Despite these displays and the animals' obvious physical power, gorillas are generally calm and nonaggressive unless they are disturbed._

Kimberly read the sign and they both burst out laughing. "Oh this is sooo Gibbs." Abby said. "Go and get Maddie and I'll take your picture by this sign. I'll be able to take it back to the lab and fix it so that he can read the words I think I should make a plaque for the wall." she said snapping a couple of shots.

"Oh my God!!!! Abby they're gone." Kimberly said desperately.

"Who's gone?" Abby said still chuckling over the sign. "Oh no! The kids!"

"Maddie and Jess."

"Sam, honey, did you see where Maddie and Jess went?" Abby asked.

"They went down there." He said, pointing to the area where there was an ice cream cart. "Maddie went to buy them ice cream."

"Ice cream?" Kimberly said. "But they didn't have any money."

"She took your wallet." Amy said. Kimberly immediately fumbled around in her purse and found that her wallet was indeed missing."

They started walking briskly holding a couple of kids hands each. They thought it best to go in the general direction of where the kids were last seen.

"Whoa! I wouldn't wanna be Maddie when Gibbs gets hold of her. Stealing! Ouch. Frowned upon. Big time! Of course I don't know if it's technically counted as stealing when it's your mother's wallet, but at the very least it's borrowing without permission. Jess is in big trouble for wandering off anyway. But if she's eaten an ice cream bought with money out of your wallet? She's gonna want to stand up on that bus ride back."

"Look. There's no real need to tell Gibbs about this." Kimberly said.

"Are you kidding me?" Abby said. "If the kid ends up in trouble with Gibbs then it's because she deserves to be. Kimberly. This is bad!"

"I know it's bad. I just want to have the opportunity to deal with her myself. That's all. If Gibbs finds out, he'll take over and I....... I think I should learn how to deal with her myself."

As they neared the ice cream stand, they saw two little figures sitting on a wall cramming ice cream into their mouths as fast as they could. Abby stalked up to Jess and took her hand. Snatching the ice cream out of the other hand, she threw it in the trash. "What do you think you're doing?" Abby said to Jess as she towered over her with her hands on her hips.

"Um....eating an ice cream." Jess said slowly.

"And where did you get the money to buy that ice cream?" Abby asked her sternly.

"Maddie buyed it for me."

"And where did Maddie get the money from?"

Jess shrugged. "I don't know."

Abby made Jess look her in the eyes. "Did you see Maddie take the wallet out of her Mommy's purse?"

Jess looked at Maddie and burst into tears. She nodded her head. Abby looked around at the small crowd that was gathering and decided against dealing with this here in front of the masses. "This isn't over Jess, you miss are in big trouble." She said taking her hand and organising the children into their lines again.

"And so are you Maddie." Kimberly said trying to replicate Abby's stern tone. The difference was that Abby's stern tone wasn't an act. She was seriously not happy with Jess at the moment and Jess knew it. Kimberly was still scared of the way that Maddie would react and like any young animal she could smell her mother's fear.

"We better head towards the first meeting place." Abby said. "The teachers will be waiting for us."

After checking in with the teachers, they continued on looking at all the animals. The kids all had a good time, even Jess forgot that she had punishment coming. Maddie was happy because she knew that her Mommy wasn't going to tell Gibbs she could just tell. If Abby was going to tell him she would have used her cell phone by now.

As they sat and waited to be picked up by the bus, Kimberly approached Abby again. "Are you going to tell him?" she asked.

"No. I think that YOU should though. Kimberly she's just gonna get worse." Abby said genuinely concerned.

"I AM going to deal with this. I'll do something.I don't know if I can spank her but I'll do something."

Abby looked at her. "This is the last time. You do realise that if Gibbs finds out that we hid this from him it'll be both our asses?"

"Tim wouldn't let him spank you surely?"

Abby laughed. "Tim would hand me to him on a silver platter. And then he'd probably have a go himself when Gibbs was finished with me."

"Really?"

"Oh yeh! Really. I hope you appreciate how much I value friendship?"

"Oh I do Abby."

"What'll we do about Jess? Won't she tell?"

"Leave Jess to me." Abby said with a sigh.

When they were on the bus Abby made sure that Jess was seated next to her. "Right missy. What are we gonna do about today?"

"I don't know. You gonna spank me?"

"Not this time. But you knew that money wasn't Maddie's didn't you?"

"Yes."

"Well when we go home I'm gonna take the same amount of money that you used out of Kimberly's purse from your piggy bank and give it to Kimberly. Then. Tonight after your homework you're going to write your words again twice and you're going to do that every night this week. Ok?"

"And you won't tell Daddy?"

"It won't come from me." She said smelling the leather as she said it.

Kimberly decided to wait until they got home before tackling Maddie. "Maddie, what you did today was very naughty and I'm going to have to punish you."

"No you won't." she said.

"I will." Kimberly said. Trying to sound convincing. "You will not get any dessert for a week."

"How're you gonna do that without Gibbs finding out?" Maddie said.

"You can say that you don't want any."

"I won't say that." Maddie said.

"Then he'll find out and he'll spank you."

"Then he'll find out you didn't tell him AND he'll find out that Abby didn't tell him either."

Kimberly bowed her head and sighed in resignation. "This is the last time Maddie. If you ever take my purse again you'll regret it." She said realizing too late her mistake. She should have just let Abby tell Jethro in the first place now she had a bad feeling she had dropped them all in it Abby more than any of them.

TBC


	29. Chapter 29

Thankyou all so much for you reviews and alerts. I really do appreciate them. I hope your all still enjoying the story :)

Chapter 29

Abby was feeling nervous as she entered her lab. They'd gotten back from the field trip and picked up Dyl. He had chosen to stay in the bullpen with his Dad, sensing Abby's bad mood. Jess was quiet too. She understood that she'd got off fairly lightly and was part of the reason that her Mommy was not happy.

"Mommy are you still mad at me?" she asked.

"No sweetie! Mommy's just a bit worried about something that's all. Mr Maj Spec is giving me some trouble that's all. I'll work it out. Don't you worry." She said kissing the small girl's head. Jess was relieved and skipped off into Abby's office to play. Abby kept a box of Barbie dolls and clothes in there to keep Jess amused.

When the elevator dinged, Abby didn't look up, she could sense that it would be Tim. She hadn't stopped in at the bullpen to kiss him hello. She KNEW that would alert him to something but she'd needed some time to get herself was only a matter of time though until he came to didn't plan on actually out and out lying to him but she knew that he considered leaving stuff out to be the same thing. Abby really wasn't looking forward to revisiting the whole 'lie of ommision debate', especially when Tim's argument was usually followed by a round of his belt. Last time she had lied it had not ended up well and she had promised. But if she told him this, she would be sent up to tell Gibbs so fast that her head would spin and then what would happen with Kimberly. Their relationship was so new......No she had made her decision, God help her. This would be the very last time she put herself and Tim in this position. And she meant it. She always meant it at the time.

When Jess saw her Daddy she flew across the room and jumped into his arms. "Daddy!" she shouted wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing his face. Tim cuddled her back and kissed her cheeks but his eyes were on Abby. As he suspected, something was wrong. "Hey little one. How was the zoo?" he asked.

"Good," Jess said. He stood her back down and moved in on his wife who still hadn't turned around.

"Hey Abs." he said hugging her from behind.

"Hey Timmy." She said patting the hands that were at her waist but not turning around. Well she's not mad, or she wouldn't have called me Timmy, Tim thought. Something was definitely not right here though.

"Everything ok Abs?" he said spinning her around and kissing her.

"Yep. I'm just tired I guess. Big day." She answered pulling him into a hug and laying her head on his shoulder. She was hoping to make him feel better while not actually having to look him in the eyes.

"Mr Maj Spec is giving her trouble." Jess piped up. "But she'll figure it out."

"Really?" Tim said moving over towards it. "What's the problem? Maybe I can fix it." Tim said helpfully.

Oh God, Abby thought. She hated how this always happened. You just want to keep one small detail to yourself and then one incident flows into another before you're lying about everything. In front of your child.

"Go and play with your dollies now Jess please." She said.

"Ok Mommy." Jess answered before she skipped off again into the office.

"Abby?" Tim said.

"Sorry?" she said vaguely.

"The major spectometer? What's the problem?" Tim asked.

"Um.......don't worry Timmy. I've called the technician in to look at it. It's a specialised piece of equipment. I shouldn't really have you looking at it."

"It's never stopped you before." Tim said narrowing his eyes. "When's the technician coming?" he asked. Oh thought.

"Sorry?" Abby said.  
"The technician Abby. When is he coming?" Tim said. Oh she was such a terrible liar.

"Tomorrow. Sometime tomorrow. I'm really sorry Timmy. I should have asked you first." She said. They both knew that apology had nothing to do with the Maj Spec technician. But neither would tell the other that. Yet. Abby felt really bad and she WAS sorry. MMmmm. Tim thought. If you've lied to me again Abby, you will be sorry. Very sorry.

Tim kissed Abby and went back up to the bullpen. Abby wanted to just burst into tears but she looked over at Jess and didn't give in. She tried to get on with her work as best she could.

Kimberly wasn't feeling much better. Jethro was going to be arriving very shortly for dinner and she didn't know how she was going to keep him from finding all this out. For God's sake, what was she so worried about? She never used to care about any of this stuff. Well Abby mainly. She was worried about Abby. The girl had been nothing but nice to her. It had been a very long time since she had had a real friend. Maybe they'd be able to talk about this on the phone or something before Sunday. Maybe it wasn't too late to deal with this without involving Abby. Otherwise she had a terrible feeling that something would come out and get her friend in trouble then she might lose Abby as well as Jethro.

Back in the bullpen Abby and the kids were waiting for Tim to shut down his computer and pack up his stuff. They were all ready to leave when his phone rang. Abby's cell rang at the same time. She watched as the look on Tim's face changed from normal to confused........She answered her own phone and her tummy sunk. "Abby? The school just rang. Amy's mother made a complaint to the school about Maddie stealing my wallet and buying ice cream. Apparently we should have reported it to the teachers.......suddenly the phone was taken from Abby's hand and Kimberly found herself talking to Tim.

"You can hang up now Kim, I'll take it from here. Sister Mary Clarence just rang me personally. Oh and Kim? Gibbs told me to tell you he'll be there shortly."and he ended the call.

"Tim I...." Tim held his hand up to stop her.

"Don't even try. We WILL talk Abby." He said giving her an uncompromising glare. "But I'd rather have that conversation privately and when I've had a chance to cool down."

"But Tim....." Abby said desperately. He would have loved to been able to discuss at least some of this with her, hell he would have loved to have been able to tan her ass on the spot. But he wouldn't do that here, not in front of his kids and not in the middle of the bullpen. But he was close. Seeing his friends frustration, Tony stepped in.

"Why don't Ziva and I take the kids down and put them in the car and stay with them for a few minutes. Give you two a chance to talk."

"Thanks Tony." Tim said. "Thanks Ziva." Ziva gave Abby a concerned look and patted her on the arm as they left.

When the elevator had left Abby turned to Tim. "You're upset with me." She said quietly.

"Upset Abby." He said incredulously. "You think I'm upset?"

"Well...."

"What I AM, is really angry. You LIED to me." He said in that deadly quiet tone he uses when he's really pissed.

"Ok. I know it looks bad."

"It isn't bad?" he said in a fake happy voice. "Sister Mary Clarence begs to differ Abby." he said sarcastically. "She seems to think that Jess watched as Maddie stole her mother's wallet and then, even though she wasn't supposed to, she went with Maddie to spend Kim's money on ice cream." Abby covered her face. Trust Sister Mary Clarence to make it sound like a federal crime had been committed.

"Uncover your face now Abigail." Uh!oh! The full title. He is mad. "Sister Mary Clarence seems to think that when you found them eating ice cream, you didn't report it to the teachers, even though you were supposed to."

"But Tiiim! We didn't think we had to. They were our own kids. Of course we would have told if it was the other kids."

Tim scoffed. "So, you're telling me, that you wouldn't have minded getting other people's children into trouble with the teachers but because it was our daughter and Kim's you thought you'd spare them?"

"Um....no you're twisting things. That's not what I meant at all. I thought us dealing with them would be enough."she said.

"And by covering the incident up, that was your way of dealing with it?" Another good point, but .....geez,she really didn't think this whole thing out real well.

"I know it seems that way Timmy but......"

"But nothing. You lied to me."

Abby sighed. "Kimberly asked me to give her a chance to deal with Maddie on her own. She thought that Gibbs would take over. Don't you see, I couldn't tell you because you would have made me tell Gibbs."

"Abby you were the one who pushed them into a relationship and now you're messing about like a puppet master deciding who gets to know what."

"I'm sorry Timmy, but I said I would give her some time."

"Great! So you SAID you'd help Kim but have you forgotten Abby? You made me a promise to never lie to me again. And you have. You know that I consider leaving things out on purpose to be lying and you did it anyway. Didn't you?"

Abby nodded and tears sprung to her eyes.

"Is the Mass Spec broken? Did you call a technician?" The look on Abby's face answered his question. "Well I hope you think it's worth it. Come on." He said taking her hand in his and walking to the elevator. When the doors closed behind them he smacked her bottom and kissed her head lovingly. "What am I gonna do with you Abs. You can't stay out of trouble for five minutes."

"I could say I'm sorry again and promise that I'll never do it again. Then we could kiss and make up and forget this ever happened?" she said hopefully.

"Not a chance. But nice try Abs."

When Kimberly hung up from Abby, or Tim when he took the phone from Abby, she knew the jig was up. Thinking fast she thought the best thing to do was to phone Jethro right away and tell him what happened. She dialled the number and waited nervously for him to answer. "Gibbs." He barked into the phone.

"Jethro, it's just me."

"Too late just me. I know all about it. I was there when Tim got the call."

"Oh. Well I was gonna tell you tonight, it's just that I didn't want to bother you at work."

"I'm gonna ask you this once and give you the chance to tell the truth and if you lie to me again you won't like what happens."

"Am I gonna like what happens if I tell the truth?"

"You're gonna like it a lot less if you lie. Were you and Abby conspiring to hide this from me?"

"That's really two questions Jethro." She said.

"Answer the question!" he growled.

"You know what, I really would hate for you to get a ticket for talking on your cell."

"Kimberly!"

"Alright. Please don't blame Abby. I told her that I wanted the chance to deal with Maddie's punishment myself."

"And did you?"

"Not exactly. I tried. I told her she couldn't have dessert for a week." Not much of a punishment even if she had been able to make it he was pretty sure that she hadn' thought

"And?" Gibbs asked hearing in her voice that there was more to the story.

"And, she asked me ......"

"Go on."

"She asked me how I was going to keep that from you."

Gibbs smirked. Stealing and blackmail. Maddie had really outdone herself today. "And what did you tell her?" Silence. "What did you tell her Kimberly?"

"I told her to tell you that she didn't want any." She said waiting for the bomb to drop.

"That's not good Kim."

"I know. I told her that you'd find out and spank her, and she said that then you'd find out that Abby and I didn't tell you. Oh Jethro, I realised then that I shouldn't have ever asked Abby not to say anything, I should have rung you straight away and told you myself."

"Yes you should." He said ending the call. Kimberly burst into tears. That was she had done it. Jethro was gone. He wouldn't bother with them now. Who would blame him. Then there was a knock on the door. Kim ran and opened it and just stood there crying.

"Am I that much of an ogre?" Gibbs asked."That you're petrified of me?"

"No! I'm not scared. I thought you'd gone. Run as fast as you could away from us." Gibbs grinned.

"Do you really think after everything that I've been through in my life, that I'd run scared from a badly behaved six year old girl and her misguided but beautiful mother? Who I am becoming very fond of I might add." He said pulling her into his arms. She sagged against him in relief.

"I thought you'd be so mad at me, at us."

"Oh I am. But we'll fix that. And we'll fix Maddie. But every time you hide things and she gets away with whatever she's done, you give her more stops today. You hear?"

"I'm starting to see that."

"Time to pay the piper. Go and wait upstairs in the corner. I'm going to deal with Maddie and then I'll come and talk to you. And then we're going to start afresh."

"Ok." Kim said, knowing that there was absolutely no point in arguing. "Oh. Do you have a box?"

"Um yeh. In the garage.I'll......"

"No. I'll get it. Upstairs." he said.

After locating the box, Gibbs went up to Maddie's room and knocked on the door then entered. "Hi Gibbs." She said, still playing with her dolls.

"Hey Miss Maddie. How was the zoo?"

"It was ok. The only person in my group with Mommy was a dumb boy."

"That's not a nice thing to say. That the only thing that happened?"

Maddie shrugged.

"I spoke to you. Did....anything....else...happen?"

"No."

"I know that's not true. I know what you did, but I want to hear you say it."

"If you know what I did why do I have to say it?"

Gibbs spun Maddie around and landed a hard smack on her bottom. "Stop it right now. I asked you a question and I want an answer. NOW!" he said quietly, but his tone brooked no disobedience.

Maddie's head shot up. "I..I took Mommy's wallet and I bought Jess and me an ice cream and we went away when they weren't looking."

"And were you good for the rest of the time on the field trip?" Maddie shook her head. "Why not?"

"Cause I wanted Jess to be with me."

"You can't have everything you want. What about when you came home did you tell your Mommy she couldn't punish you because I would find out that she hadn't told me?"

"Yes. Are you going to spank me?"

"Yep and more than that. Come here." Maddie walked very slowly over towards Gibbs.

"I don't wanna have a spanking."

"Like I said Maddie you can't have everything that you want." Maddie started to cry before he'd even put her over his knee. When the first spank landed she cried even harder and louder than she did last time. Gibbs just ignored her and kept on spanking until she was crying more quietly. As far as a Gibbs' spanking goes, it was mild really. After a few more smacks on her sit spots he stopped and pulled her up into a hug. " You will learn Maddie. I'm not going anywhere and I'm not going to let you get away with this stuff any more." When she went to climb down off his lap he stopped her. "We're not finished yet sweetheart. You obviously need more of a reminder to behave. See that box? We're going to put all your dolls in there, and I'm going to put them up high. If you can stay out of trouble for two weeks? I'll give them back. Ok?"

"No! You're not my Daddy and you can't take my stuff." Maddie said crying all over again.

"I know I'm not your Daddy but I care about you and your Mommy and I'm going to help your Mommy teach you to behave whether you like it or not." Maddie stomped her foot. "It won't help Maddie." Gibbs picked up the box and started packing all of Maddie's dolls into it. This was ridiculous, he thought. He was going to need another box. Or two. Maddie started screaming.

"Put them back. Put them back. There mine!" Gibbs was going to put her in the corner but he needed another box and he dared not leave her in here by herself in that mood so he took her hand and went towards the garage with Maddie in tow. When they got to the stairs however, Maddie decided to lay down and refused to walk. Not willing to get into another argument with the stubborn lttle miss, he picked her up and kept moving. After gathering up and stacking another three boxes he picked Maddie up again and headed upstairs.

Back in Maddie's room, he stood her in the corner with a smack to reignite the fire and went on with the task of emptying her shelves. Within five minutes, Maddie's tears had dried and the monumental task was finished. "You can come out now honey." Gibbs said. Maddie was not happy when she saw all her empty shelves but she didn't dare give Gibbs anymore trouble tonight. "I want you to do you homework until we call you for dinner. Ok?"

Maddie nodded and sat at her desk. After Gibbs had left and closed her door she started writing on a piece of paper.

**gibs is a min poo poo head**

She opened the drawer of her desk and hid her secret note inside underneath some junk. That made her smile. She took out her homework and started to copy her words.

TBC


	30. Chapter 30

Thank you to everyone for your reviews and alerts. As always I appreciate your support and I love to know what you're thinking. Most of the time. In saying that, I'd like to thank my cyber bullies who have helped to push my review stats up to 400. Thanks so much for that I appreciate it :P To the rest of you, I hope you enjoy the chapter :)

Chapter 30

When the McGee's got home, they decided to keep the night as routine as possible and leave the sorting out of things until later. The kids went upstairs to do their homework and have their showers etc, the same as they did every night while Tim and Abby got dinner ready and chatted to Sarah about her day. Zac was coming over for dinner and they were going to study together. This pushed Abby's punishment even further away, which made the nervousness that was slowly seeding in her tummy cultivate even more, but it did give Tim time to cool down.

Dinner was a very quiet affair with both Abby and Jess contemplating the evening ahead. Jess didn't have very long to wait. When dinner was over Tim took her hand and told her to kiss Mommy good night and then the two walked up the stairs together.

Jess went and brushed her teeth while her Daddy sat on her bed and waited. Tim saw Jess watching him out of the corner of his eye. "Come on back in here Jess." He slowly walked towards him and he picked her up and sat her on his knee. "Right. What happened today?"

"Maddie tooked her Mommy's wallet and she wanted me to go with her to buy ice cream."

"Did you know that wasn't the right thing to do?"

"Yes Daddy."

"Then why did you do it? Didn't we just talk about not following Maddie when she does the wrong thing?"

Jess started to cry. "Because she gets mad if I don't do what she says."

"Do you know what that's called Jess?" She shook her head.

"It's called bullying. Maddie is bullying you. Do you know why she does that?"

"No."

"Because she can. Because when you do what she says, you give her the power to be in charge."

"I do?"

"Yep. And you know what? I know that you can be stronger than Maddie if you put your mind to it. You just have to practice. What do you say next time Maddie tries to get you to do something bad?"

"I don't know."

"You say NO! Maddie. See Jess, Maddie hasn't heard that word much in her life so she needs to hear it more so that she gets used to it. Once she gets used to you telling her no, she'll stop asking you to do silly stuff."

"Ok."

"Now, you still have to be punished for today because you did the wrong thing. Twice. You shouldn't have used Kim's money and you shouldn't have gone away from your Mommy. What punishment did Mommy give you?"

"She said I had to give the money back out of my piggy bank, and I had to write my words out extra times each night for a week."

"Well that sounds like a pretty fair punishment to me this time, but Jess, I don't want to have this discussion about you doing the same as Maddie again. Ok? If she hassles you badly over something, you tell an adult, but you don't do the same as her or next time you WILL get a spanking."

"Ok Daddy. I promise." She said wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him on the cheek.

When Tim came back downstairs Abby was fiddling around in the kitchen more for something to do really. "Jess is asleep. She didn't even make it to the end of the story." He said. "Dyl?"

Abby nodded. "Yeh he didn't take long tonight either."

"Zac gone home?" Abby nodded again.

"Ok then. It's time. I've put a chair in the corner. I want you to take this." he said handing her a writing pad and a pen. I want you to write down everything that you're in trouble for."

"Oh God Tim! I'm not one of the kids!" she said stomping her platform boot.

"Really? You're acting like Jess when she doesn't get her way. Humour me, and go and do as you're told. Just this once." He said spinning her in the direction of the stairs and landing a sharp smack on her backside to hurry her along. Abby turned around and glared at him but she went. But by the time she had reached the top of the stairs, she had a twinkle in her eye. Tim just shook his head. He wasn't deliberately dragging things out. He just wanted to know what SHE thought she had done wrong as compared to what she thought HE thought she had done wrong.

Not that far away at Kimberly's house, Gibbs opened her bedroom door and entered, bringing all of Maddie's boxes of dolls with him. "Come on over here and let's get this over with." He said taking her hand and pulling her to sit next to him on the bed. "What are you in trouble for?" he said trying to keep from smiling. She was obviously not impressed by the fact that he had confiscated Maddie's dolls, judging by the side ways glances and the scowl on her face. "Ok. Let's get that out of the way first, shall we and then we can move on. You obviously have a problem with me taking away Maddie's dolls."

Gibbs eyes opened wider and he had to try REALLY hard to suppress a grin at the return of 'the voice'. "As A matter of fact I do! How can Maddie losing all of her precious possessions, help her to learn control when she will just be angry and miserable all the time."

"You forgot bored and feeling sorry for herself." Gibbs added, not bothering to hide his smile this made Kimberly even more ropeable.

"How dare you!......How dare you have fun at my child's expense!" she said putting her hands on her hips. She would have loved nothing more than to slap his arrogant face, but that didn't work out so well last time, so wisely, she refrained.

"Come on! You really think that I took Maddie's dolls to amuse myself?" he said getting a bratz doll out of the box and pretending to play. I actually prefer the strawberry shortcake to this........What is this called anyway? It looks like a......hooker."

"It's a Bratz doll." Gibbs chuckled.

"Well that fits. Look. There are three main reasons that I took Maddie's dolls. The first one, is that I think she needed a longer punishment for what she did. Stealing is big. She needed a reminder that would last longer than the sting of a spanking. The spanking was just to get her attention. The second is that I can't be here all the time. I have to work and go home. I'm here a lot but I don't live here. If you have to send her to her room, it shouldn't be like Disneyland when she gets there. It SHOULD be boring and it should make her wish that she had her dolls back. Lastly, being good for two weeks in order to get the dolls back will give her something to strive for. But I mean that. She has to be good for two weeks or she doesn't get them back. Otherwise it'll all have been for nothing." He watched her face and was relieved to see that she finally understood.

"I'm sorry. I should have known you had a method in your madness."

"Now as for you. You didn't tell me what was going on but I can understand you wanting to have a chance to deal with your own child. I only want to help you. All you needed to do was let me know what happened and tell me that you wanted to try to deal with it yourself. Getting Abby involved wasn't fair, but I think you know that already." She nodded. "The biggest mistake you made, although there were several, was not trusting me. I thought we were building something special here, but you still don't trust me. You didn't trust me enough to tell me what happened. Then you asked Abby not to tell me which now has her in trouble with her husband. You asked MADDIE to lie to me. And then you thought I'd run away and left you because you and Maddie made mistakes. What kind of a man do you think I am?"

Kim had tears rolling down her face by the time he was finished. "I know you're a good man." She said.

"Then trust me." He said. "I don't deal with things by running away."

"Believe me; I know how you deal with things." Kim said with a little smile, trying to lighten the mood.

"Well good. Now we're getting somewhere." He said unbuttoning her pants and pulling them down before he flipped her over his knee. He brought his hand down with a resounding smack. First on one cheek and then on the other. Falling into a steady rhythm he wasted no time in building a slow burning fire in her backside. She started to wriggle, and move around trying to get away from his punishing blows . When she flung her hand back automatically to try and protect herself from the burning pain, he grabbed it and held it out of the way. Exhaustion and defeat eventually took over and she slumped over his knee sobbing. She felt total relief as she felt her self being lifted up and held in his arms as he kissed the tears from her cheeks and whispered soothing words in her ear.

"I'm... so.... sorry." She sobbed quietly into his neck as she clung onto him.

"I know you are." He said. "Listen, why don't I go and order some Chinese and I'll call you and Maddie when it arrives."

"Thanks Jethro. That would be really nice."

Back at the McGee's, when Tim got up to their bedroom he got a surprise, which with Abby wasn't really a surprise in itself. He found Abby sitting on the chair scribbling on the writing pad he had given her. It took all his willpower not to burst out laughing. He sat on the bed and waited for her to finish, determined not to give her the satisfaction of reacting. He didn't have to wait long before he saw Abby standing there like a naughty girl waiting to get her homework checked. The fact that she had donned a school uniform and big fake glasses helped with the allusion. She had the role play down pat right down to her long white socks and platform Mary-janes. Tim shook his head. "It's not gonna get you out of trouble you know." He said trying really hard not to laugh. He took the 'homework' from her and started to read it.

_I'm in trouble for not telling Gibbs what Maddie did._

_I'm in trouble for hiding things. Again._

_I'm in trouble because you think we were protecting the kids when we didn't tell _

_the teachers what they did._

_I'm in trouble for lying about the Mass Spec being broken_

_I'm in trouble for lying about the technician coming._

Tim walked over to the desk and got a red pen. He crossed out two of the lines. "Abby you aren't in trouble for not telling Gibbs. That was Kimberly's place, not yours. You shouldn't have assumed that I would have sent you up to tell Gibbs. When I sent you to Gibbs house that night to tell him what you planned, that was because it was something that YOU did. Setting him up without his knowledge. This is different. Now they are in some sort of relationship, it's up to them to figure out there own stuff."

"So I lied for nothing." She said, narrowing her eyes.

"The other thing you're not in trouble for is not telling the teachers. You should have told them, but I believe you when you say you didn't cover up for them on purpose."

"Thanks Timmy." She said.

"As for the rest of them, they're pretty spot on. You should have told me what Jess did. For what it's worth, I think you handled Jess's punishment just right. And if you had rung and told me what she did and how you handled it, we could have left it at that. I would have spoken to her about what she did, but I would have trusted your judgement as far as punishment goes."

"So once again, I lied for nothing."

"Yep. But, you're still getting a spanking for lying."

"Fair enough." Abby said."A promise is a promise." She got up and got ready to drape herself over his knee.

"Not so fast Miss." He said. "I thought you wanted to play schools. So we're gonna play schools." He said getting up and getting a ruler out of the drawer.

"Not the ruler Timmy." Abby said.

"Let me ask you a question Abs. Why are you wearing a school uniform? And before you answer, bear in mind that you don't want to be in any more trouble for lying today."

"I was trying to distract you." She said sheepishly. "Did it work?"

"I'll let you be the judge of that." He said crooking his finger at her as he stood by the desk. She slowly made her way over to where he stood. She took his outstretched hand and he bent her over the desk. Lifting up her short skirt, he tried to hide his sharp intake of breath as he discovered the delicate lace thong that Abby had donned under her uniform. Once again he shook his head. This woman was going to be the death of him, he thought, as he took a very short moment to admire the view. But by God she made life interesting.

Still he thought, shaking his thoughts back into place, he had to deal with the lying first. He drew the ruler back and slapped it across both cheeks leaving a fiery line. He followed this with another and another making sure not to overlap the lines. All in all, He only gave her eight smacks with the ruler, but without a warm up Abby felt the sting. She hated that damn ruler. It didn't take long for the sting to turn into a blaze as Tim's hand replaced the ruler to finish off her spanking. He helped Abby up and they stood looking into each other's eyes. "I am sorry Timmy. It just kind of got out of hand."

"Well, you know what to do next time." He said.

"Yep. Burn that damn ruler," she said with a twinkle in her eye. "Oh well! Time for bed. I better go and have shower and put my pyjamas on." She said with a sly smile.

"Oh I don't know Abs, could you leave that uniform on for just a little while longer?" Tim said nibbling at her neck. "I kind of like it."

"Really Timmy?!" she said "That was kind of the point."

"Mmhhmmm! I know." He said too busy now for words.

"Ooh Timmy."

Across town after the left over Chinese was put away, Kim went to have a shower. Gibbs wanted a chance to spend some time with Maddie that didn't include punishing her. Opening her door, he was met with the usual scowl that she had been wearing of late in his presence. "Hey Maddie." Gibbs said. "Time to go to sleep. Would you like me to read you a story?"

Maddie looked at him suspiciously and then nodded. "Ok." He held the comforter back and waited for her to climb in side before flipping the cover back over her. Then he went over to her book shelf and chose 'Alice in Wonderland' and came and sat down on the bed.

"You can't read that one." She said.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because Mommy said it's too long to be a bedtime story." She said sadly. She clearly liked the book.

"Oh. Well I have an idea, I could read one chapter every night until we've finished." He said.

"What if we get half way through and we don't get to finish?" she asked.

"That won't happen Maddie. I'm not going anywhere. You have to trust me. Ok?"

She nodded and smiled a little turning to the first page of the book. Gibbs got his glasses out of his pocket and put them on and he started to read.

_'Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, `and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice `without pictures or conversation?'_

At the end of the first chapter, Gibbs looked down at the child that was peacefully slumped against his shoulder asleep. He stuck his business card inside the pages of the book as a book mark and set the book down on the bedside table ready for tomorrow night and then crept quietly out of the room.

He knocked gently on Kim's door and she opened it immediately. "I just thought I'd better pop in and say good bye. It's getting late." He said.

"Jethro don't go. Please?" she said taking his hand and pulling him inside her bedroom. There was no answer that could be heard, just the door being kicked shut.

TBC


	31. Chapter 31

Thanks again for all your reviews and alerts I really appreciate them. Sorry this chapter was a bit late. Couldn't be helped. Hope you like the chapter :)

Chapter 31

Although it was the weekend, the team as usual went to work at least for a while. When Ziva and Tony arrived, it was to an empty bullpen.

"That's odd....Tony said, looking around. "No Gibbs. Or Mcgee, which means that Abby and the McBrats are not here yet either."  
"There was that trouble last night."  
"There was that....." he said. But that's nothing unusual for Abby, he said trying to think where everyone could be. He didn't have to wait long before the McGee family came into the bull pen minus Sarah who was out somewhere with Zac and Dylan who had gone to Toby's.

"Well Hi there, McTardy family. I was wondering where everyone was." Tony said brightly. "Didn't happen to see Gibbs in your travels did you?"

"Ah No.....He's not in yet?" Tim said

"Gibbs is LATE?" Abby said with a brilliant smile. "He MUST have stayed the night Tim. I told you."

"Stayed the night where?" Jess asked innocently.

"ABBYYYY!!!" Tim said. " Little pitchers!"

Abby set Jess up with a kid's game on the computer and put some headphones on her. Then she went back to Tony's desk.

"Do you think he did Abs? Stay there, I mean?" Tony asked.

Abby nodded. "Oh yeh!"

"Will you two just stop." Tim said. "Gibbs is gonna walk in any minute and then he's gonna be in a bad mood all day when he overhears you two talking about him.'

Abby waved her hand at him. "I dare you to ask?" she said to Tony.

"No way! You wouldn't do it either!" Tony said.

"Abby!" Tim said, not liking where this was going at all.

"Sure I would. It's just a question Tony. Don't be such a baby."Abby was in a winding up sort of mood today.

"Tony, you will be sorry. Gibbs will smack your head." Ziva said in a warning tone.

"Cluck, cluck,cluck,cluc.......k" Abby baited.

"Alright, I'll make you a deal. First one to get up enough gumption to ask him, wins the bet."

"You're on! Only I don't need to get up anything. I'm not afraid." She said cockily. "So what do I win?"

"Well there's no way I'm scared either! And what do I win?" Tony answered.

"We all go out to dinner, loser pays." Abby said.

"Fair enough." Tony answered.

"I better go down and do some work." She lent over towards Ziva. "Call me when he comes in."

"No need Abs! I'm here." He said kissing her on the cheek and plonking a big box of donuts on a spare passed out cups of coffee and handed Abby a caf-pow and jess a milkshake. That left two milkshakes in the tray. "I thought you might all like some breakfast. Where's Dyl and Sarah?"

Tony, Ziva and Tim's mouths were all open wide. Abby's grin spread even further."They're not coming today. Other plans."

"Oh ok." he said.

"So Gibbs......" Abby started to say but was cut off by her husband who suddenly found his tongue.

"Ah Abby.....didn't ......haven't....you got somewhere...the lab." He found his tongue but unfortunately was having a great deal of trouble getting it to work.

Abby swung around and to face him. "If you're trying to suggest that I should probably go and start work, then the answer is, I will in a minute." Tim sagged out a breath. She swung back around to face Gibbs.

Tony jumped up and moved across to get a front row seat. His expression said, go ahead Abs, I dare you.

Abby ALMOST dared but caved at the attempt at the last minute. "Bossman, I was just wondering...... if Maddie is going to the extra dance class this afternoon."

"Yeh Abs, she is. Are you going Jess?" he asked.

"Yep. Wanna see my ballet slippers and my tap shoes?"

"Sure." Gibbs said.

Jess fossicked around in her bag and brought out her two favourite pairs of shoes. "See these ones are pink? And these ones are black and really shiny and they make a really cool sound when you dance. Want me to show you?"

"I couldn't think of anything else I rather see." He said with great enthusiasm. Jess couldn't find any floor that wasn't carpeted so she contented herself with putting her tap shoes on her hands and tap, tap, tapping loudly on Gibbs desk.

"Wow! Jess they are pretty impressive." Gibbs said.

"Ok I'm off to the lab." Abby said striding towards the elevator. "Oh I almost forgot...........Tim, Tony and Ziva all looked up from their desks and waited for Abby's question. Tony had given up any thought that he might win the bet. He'd rather pay for dinner any day than ask Gibbs if he slept with Kim. He would love to see Gibbs face if Abby asked the question though and he would really love to know the answer.

"Is there something going on here that I should know about?" Gibbs asked, his good mood slipping away slightly as he looked at the expectant faces that were a dead giveaway.

"No Boss!" Tony and Tim said together.

"Good. Then maybe we could do some work." He said.

"Going back to work right now Boss." Tony said.

"On it Boss!" Tim said.

"Abby?" he asked looking over the top of his glasses. "Is there something you need?" Abby could suddenly hear the chicken dance music coming from Tony's computer. Now she had to do it. She never was one to refuse a dare.

"Gibbs did you stay with Kim at her house last night?" she asked quickly. A communal gasp was heard from three different desks before Gibbs pushed his chair back and stalked towards the elevator. "Abby, Dinozzo, with me!" he said.

Tony and Abby glared at each other as they followed Gibbs to the elevator. Abby punched Tony in the arm and he snarled at her. "What was that for!" he hissed.

"The chicken music." She hissed back. "It was a dead giveaway."

"Oh and asking him point blank, did he stay with Kim at her house wasn't?" he mouthed.

"Stop it, you two." Gibbs said as he punched the button to the elevator. The doors opened almost immediately and he stepped inside followed reluctantly by the other two.

Gibbs slammed the stop button and then spoke. "You Dinozzo, are my Senior Field Agent." And then turning to Abby he said. "You are a Forensic Scientist and a Mother! He looked from one to the other. "Why are you behaving like a couple on brats? Whose business is it where I slept last night?"

"Yours Boss." Tony said.  
"I only......." Abby started to say.

"Save it Abby." Gibbs said putting up his hand to stop her.

"Yours only Bossman." She said apologetically.

"Good. Don't forget it!" he said slapping Tony's head and Abby's backside. "Now get ...back....to....work!" he hit the emergency stop button again and got out with Tony. "Go down to your lab Abby." He said, and seeing her sneaky smile he added "And don't phone and ask Kim either." As the doors closed he smiled.

As Gibbs arrived back at his desk, he could see that Tim was on a serious call. He just caught the tail end. "We'll be right there." He said ending the call. Tim shot up from his desk and went straight over to Gibbs desk. "Ah, Boss I have to go and I think I should take Abby with me, Dyl's fallen off his bike and broken his arm, Toby's folks are taking to the emergency room. I told them we'd meet them there."

"You go Tim. Go and get Abby and go."

"Come on Jess, we have to go, Dyl's hurt himself."

"Why do I have to go? I'm gonna miss dance class." She pouted.

"I'll take her to dance class." Tony said. Everyone looked up. "If the Boss can spare me?" Gibbs nodded.

"Good idea, emergency rooms are not really the place for kids anyway Tim, unless they have to be the patient." Gibbs said. "You go."

When Tim walked into Abby's lab she looked up, concern written all over her face. "What's happened?" she asked in a panicky voice.

"Don't panic Abs, But Dyl's fallen off his bike and it looks like he's broken his arm."

"Oh My God! Is he ok?" she asked as she shoved things into her backpack. Where's Jess? We have to get to the emergency room. They DID take him to the emergency room Timmy didn't they? Was he in much pain? Are they sure he didn't hit his head. Did they check out his pupils to see if they're dilating?" she said, firing one question after another before waiting for an answer. Tears were now rolling down her cheeks. Neither of the kids had seriously been hurt before, well not that breaking an arm was serious but still it was scary when it was your child's first real injury.

"Abs!" Tim said to get her attention. "Honey, you're gonna need to calm down. He'll need us to be calm. If you go to him in hysterics, you'll scare him."

"I know. I'm sorry." She said breathing deeply to help get herself under control. Tim pulled her into a hug. "Come on. He'll be fine. You ok now?" he said. She nodded. "I think we should go."

"Ok. Where's Jess?"

"She's up in the bullpen. Tony's gonna take her to dance class."

"That was really sweet of him to offer." she said as they got inside the elevator.

"Yeh it was." Tim said. It never ceased to amaze him how Tony could be really annoying, but anytime you really needed a friend. Tony was your man. Stepping up and offering every time. Most times, before you even had a chance to ask."

A while later they were being ushered into Dyl's cubicle at the emergency room. "Hey baby!" Abby said, pulling into a tight a hug as she dared without hurting his arm. "Does it hurt much?"

Dyl nodded and tears started to roll down his face. He'd been able to hold it together until he saw his Mom and Dad and then he just couldn't hold back his tears anymore. In an unusual move of late for him, he allowed his Mom cuddle and kiss him and he relished the comfort that it brought him. Tim came back in the room after signing paperwork at the desk. "Hey little man? You ok?" he asked as he kissed the top of his son's head. Dyl had seemed more grown up lately but now, seeing him lying in the huge hospital bed he looked very young and small. About the same as he felt. "I just thanked Toby's parents Abs. There gonna head off home, now that we're here."

She nodded. "I'll go and thank them when everything settles down."

"I spoke to the doctor, and they say it's a green stick fracture, and they're gonna be able to set it without having to do anything else with it. They'll come with a wheelchair soon Dyl, and take you to the plaster room. You're gonna get a cast, Buddy."

"Wow!!! I always wanted a cast." He said brightening up now.

Meanwhile Tony and Jess were on their way to dance class. Ziva had helped Jess get changed into her leotard and shoes and put her hair up for her in a tight bun.

"You're lucky Tony." Jess said.

"Why's that Jess?" Tony asked.

"Because my Mommy isn't usually allowed to come in the class, but today is different. Today your allowed to come in and watch."

"Oh really." Tony said.

"And I get to choose one person to be my partner when I dance."

"OH." Tony said.

"I'm gonna pick you." Jess said as if it was the greatest honour ever.

Tony looked around. He was the only choice. It still tickled him pink. Thank God none of the others will be there with a camera, he thought.

Tony and Jess entered the class and Jess went to stand in the middle of the floor and Tony sat in the front on one of a row of chairs next Kim. "Where's Abby?" she asked in a whisper.

"Dyl broke his arm, they had to go to the emergency room." He whispered back.

"Is he ok?" she asked genuinly concerned.

Tony nodded. "Tim just phoned. He's just waiting to have a cast put on." They must have forgotten to lower their voices because a surly older woman who looked like she might have once been a dancer herself, turned and gave them a glare. "Sorry." Tony mouthed.

"In trouble already Dinozzo." Came a familiar voice. Gibbs smirked and took a seat on the other side of Kim. As a surprise Gibbs had also brought Ziva who sat next to Tony.

"Hey! This is a surprise." Tony said and then did the mouth zipping thing to the woman who was once again glaring at him. He rolled his eyes at Ziva, but turned around when the music started.

They watched as the children did the short little dances that they had learned in class. Everyone clapped and looked suitably impressed. It wasn't hard, the little girls were all very cute.

Then the teacher explained that the children were going to choose a partner. Gibbs was smiling smugly waiting for Jess to choose Tony. He had brought Ziva to take pictures. For Tim and Abby of course. He was sure that Maddie would choose her Mommy, so was totally unprepared when he found Maddie standing in front of him.

As he took her small hand in his and followed her to the floor, his smug grin had turned into the awkward smile of a man who, although like Tony was tickled to be chosen, was a bit out of place with his work boots and long coat standing amongst all the delicate little girls. But when Maddie looked up into his face with hope in his eyes, he winked a decided to just go with the flow. But as the sounds of the nutcracker filled the room, he leaned in to Tony and said out of the corner of his mouth.

"This better never get back to Fornell!"

TBC


	32. Chapter 32

I'd like to thank everyone again for their wonderful reviews and alerts. I'm really sorry that I've gotten behind again with replies to my reviews. My real life has been a bit crazy lately. This chapter is really short, but I thought that it was a good place to leave it. I hope you like the chapter :)

Chapter 32

As the Nutcracker music faded out, all the children and their volunteers took a bow or a curtsy, whatever was appropriate. Ziva turned off her phone and Kim took the last of the photos with the camera that Ziva had passed her. They were both beaming. Neither had see such a cute and funny sight.

"And that concludes the ballet portion of the presentation, volunteers you may now take a seat. Girls you may go and change into your tap shoes." The bossy woman said. The little girls ran off like a bunch of cute little fairies to change into their tap shoes.

It wasn't cute little fairies that returned minutes later however, but a small herd of very loud foot tapping tiny elephants. You would have to have been to a six year old's tap dancing class, to imagine the sound, that twenty, six year olds clomping around elatedly in tap shoes can make. It was even more amazing that when the bossy woman did a tiny clap, clap,clap, with her hands, that they all stopped and stood in the hell they even heard her was beyond comprehension.

As soon as the room filled with Shirley Temple and her Codfish Ball the little elephants all came back to life. They tap tap tapped until Gibbs had serious concerns that they all might be found unconscious on the floor below. The next song was more modern. From the sublime to the ridiculous. Apparently they must make a lot of mistakes because they were dancing to 'Whoops I did it again.' Very loudly. From Shirley to Brittany. It's another world, kids dance class, Gibbs thought. Finally the torture was over and the tap dance portion was finished and they were going to be allowed to go home. Thank God! While Ziva and Kim got the girls changed, Tony said to Gibbs. "Is it just me Boss or does it feel like the music's still playing."

"The music's still playing and the taps are still tapping." Gibbs said. "I've been in quieter war zones than this."

Back at the hospital, Dyl was admiring his brand new bright blue cast. He was actually feeling a little better now. The nurse had given him a pain killer and had also given some to Abby and Tim to take home. Dyl was released and they thought they'd get him home and settled before the pain killer had a chance to wear off. They'd think about some pizzas or something when they got everything organised and the others were back with Jess.

When they pulled up the driveway about an hour later, they found Tony and Ziva's car out the front. They had brought Jess home and let themselves in to wait. Sarah apparently wasn't home yet. As they helped Dyl inside and made him comfortable on the couch, Abby and Tim thanked Tony and Ziva for looking after Jess and asked them if they wanted to stay for pizza. Of course they agreed, as they always do, Tony was never one turn down pizza or the opportunity to have some fun with his favourite McBrat family.

"How was the dancing sweetie?" Abby asked Jess.

"It was great!" she said enthusiastically. "We got to pick a partner to dance with and I picked Tony. He did the Nutcracker real good." Tim chuckled.

"Thanks Tony really, that is above and beyond Uncle duty."genuinly pleased.

"You don't know the half of it." Tony said with a grin. "Jess tell Mommy and Daddy who Maddie chose to be her partner."

"Get OUT!" Abby said nearly pushing Tony off his feet, before Jess even had a chance to tell her. "Oh I hope someone got pictures."

"Better Abby." Ziva said. "I gave the camera to Kim and she got pictures, but I......"she said holding up her fancy cell phone. "Have video footage."

"Yes,yes,yes, I love you Ziva!" she said suddenly noticing Jess was taking all this in. "Because I couldn't have survived not seeing my beautiful little princess dance. Tim, can you order the pizzas while we set this up?"

"Sure, what's everyone want? The usual?"he asked.

"Guess so." Abby said. "See if there's something special Dylan would like."

Tim went in to talk to Dylan and find out what he would like. "Can I just have cheese on my pizza please?" Dyl asked while watching his Mom and Ziva fix the cell phone to the Tv.

"Sure little buddy." Tim said.

"And can I have my own can of coke?" he asked in his best pathetic voice.

"Kids don't drink coke Dyl, but I can get you some juice or ...."

"He's sick Tim. Wouldn't hurt just this once, would it?" Abby said.

"Ok, but if he's awake half the night Abby........."

"I know if I break him I've bought him. I don't mind this once." She said cheerily.

"What about me?" Jess said. "Can I have coke just this once?" Tim looked pointedly at Abby.

"You can have a small glass, not a can." Abby said.

"But why? Why does Dyl get a can?" Jess said.

"Because he's bigger than you. You are smaller than him so you get less coke. Or, you can have no coke and just have milk Jess. Your choice."

Jess didn't say anything else but she didn't think it was fair. Tony noticed her pouty expression and went and picked her up. "Do you know what they're doing over there munchikin? There fixing up the TV so we can watch the pictures Ziva took of you and me dancing. Won't that be fun?" he said tickling her tummy.

"Yep" she said. "Can I sit with you."

"Sure can." Tony said.  
"Tony are you my uncle?" Jess asked.

"Kind of." He answered.

"Yes he is." Tim said and Abby nodded.

"You know how we adopted you and Dyl?" Abby said. "Well it's the same thing with Tony and Ziva. We adopted them too.

"So can I call them Uncle Tony and Aunti Ziva?" Jess asked.

"You'll have to ask them." Abby said.

"Can I?" Jess said looking into Tony's eyes.

"I'd love that Jess." Tony said with a husky voice and suddenly very watery eyes. "I love you uncle Tony." She said. She kissed his cheek and jumped down off his lap and ran over to Ziva. Jess threw her arms around Ziva's neck and kissed her cheek. "I love you too Auntie Ziva." Ziva's eyes filled with tears as she clung on to the little girl unable to speak. But sometimes words are not necessary.

"Everyone ready?" Abby said as she started the show. "Jess you look beautiful!" Tim said proudly. "And so do you Uncle Tony. I particularly like the way you did that turn. Although Gibbs definitely has it all over you in the toe pointing department." He said with a grin.

"Maybe! But look at my arms and hands, they're more expressive. Gibbs holds his arms like........well like"

"Arms?" Tim prompted.

"You don't understand Tim. Us dancers, we take our work very seriously, don't we Jess?" he said.

"If you got some tap shoes, I could teach you that too." Jess said seriously.

"Really?!" Tony said. "We could move the furniture in here on Sundays and practice."

"Ah....not on my hardwood floors Tony. You can take Jess over to practice at your house." He said.

"Shush Timmy. We're watching. Look at the look on Gibbs face." All too soon, it came to the big finale. All the men bowed and the girls curtsied. And the crowd cheered. The ones on the video and the ones at home. Dylan had to hang on to his arm because it hurt when he laughed. And he laughed a lot. That was one of the funniest things he had ever seen.

Soon their pizzas arrived at the same time as Sarah and Zac. "What happened Dyl?" Sarah asked as soon as she saw him.

"I fell off my bike." He said "Wanna sign my cast?"

"Of course I do." She said. "Wait here and I'll just go up and get some coloured markers. She said as she ran up the stairs. Zac was happy to sign it with the black marker that Abby had left on the coffee table for that purpose.

"Thanks Zac." Dyl said.

"That's ok. Does it hurt much?" Zac asked.

"Not as much as it did. But they gave me medicine to make it stop hurting."

"That was lucky then." Zac said.

"Are you coming to lunch tomorrow Zac?" Dyl asked.

"I sure am? And you know what? I'll bring over some of my DVD's for you to watch Ok?"

"Cool!" Dyl said.

As they ate their pizza, they looked at the video one more time. Sarah couldn't believe that someone had actually made Gibbs dance the nutcracker. "And you were good too Tony." She said. "Beautiful arm extensions" she said.

"See? What did I tell you?" Tony said to Tim.

"You are really starting to worry me Tony." Tim said.

"I'm comfortable with myself and I am just so proud of my first ever ballet lesson." Tony said.

"What lesson?" Tim said. "You copied a bunch of six year old girls."

"Bet you wouldn't say that to Gibbs." Tony said.

"I would if he was as proud of his arm extensions as you are." Tim said. "Anyway, back to reality. Who's for dessert?" Tim had to get out of there for a few minutes. What the hell was wrong with him. Why was watching Tony dance with Jess over and over bothering him so much? The guy did him a favour for God's sake.

Everybody wanted dessert, so Tim went into the kitchen to fetch ice cream and bowls. When he turned around, Abby was right behind him. "You ok?" she asked.

"Fine. Why wouldn't I be?" he said stacking bowls and counting them without actually looking at her.

"Tim." She said quietly. "I know what's wrong."

"I'm just being.........I don't know what I'm being." Abby wrapped her arms around him from behind. " Your being jealous because Tony got to dance with your little girl for the first time, before you." She said. "But Tim, Dyl needed us more, at that time. And if it wasn't for Tony and Ziva, Jess would have missed out all together."

"I know and I'm grateful. Honestly." He said feeling really ashamed.

Abby grinned. "Bit of a revelation that you're human like the rest of us . Hey Timmy."she said wiggling her eyebrows.

"Guess so Abs. Thanks." Tim said pulling Abby round in front of him and kissing her deeply.

"You two done playing grabass in here? Can we have ice cream or what?" Tony asked, doing his best Gibbs impersonation.

"Sure Tony." Tim said winking at Abby. "And thanks again for today."

"Tim, honestly, it made my day when she chose me. Even if I was the only one she had to choose from. You're a lucky man Tim." He said sincerely.

Tim looked at Abby and smiled. "I know Tony."

TBC


	33. Chapter 33

I would like to appologise again for being so late with the repiles for your alerts. I really do appreciate them all. Yesterday was my Birthday, and it was one of the BIG ones. My hausband and kids had lots planned and I couldn't really ignore them while I sat on the computer. AS soon as this chapter is posted I will get right on to them I promise. So thanks and I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 33

The next morning was Sunday, and the McGee's as usual went to church before getting ready for their usual Sunday lunch with the family. This morning, however Sarah opted to stay home and mind Dylan as he really wasn't up to moving around too much yet. She had a fair bit of home work to get out of the way as well.

Over at Kim and Maddie's house, Gibbs had stayed over again and he was busy making breakfast when Maddie padded into the kitchen. "Whatcha doin Gibbs?" she asked.

"I'm making bacon and eggs for breakfast." He said as he popped some more bread into the toaster. "Why don't you get some silverware and I'll hand you some plates and you can set the table."

"Why?" she said.

"Well because I asked you to and because I thought it would be a nice surprise for your Mommy to come down and find this all done."

"Ok. Where do I put them?" Gibbs patiently showed her which side to put the knife and which side to put the fork etc. She picked up the rest of the utensils and followed Gibbs lead. She actually looked quite proud of herself when she was finished.

"Good job Maddie." Gibbs said. "Have you ever done that before?"

"Na, I always used to eat while I was watching Tv."

"Oh. Do you know why I like us all to eat at the table?" he asked.

"No. Why?" Maddie asked with her head cocked on one side.

"Because it gives us a chance to talk to each other and I get a chance to look at your happy faces." Not always happy Gibbs thought, but where getting there.

Maddie didn't say anything but she did smile.

"Good morning!" Kim said as she came into the kitchen taking in the sight of Gibbs cooking and Maddie placing napkins on the table. "This is a lovely way to start the day. Thankyou."

"You're welcome Gibbs said as he returned her kiss."

"And thankyou too Maddie. That was very helpful of you to set the table." Kim said hugging her daughter from behind and kissing her cheek.

"Gibbs showed me which side to put the stuff." She said. Gibbs plated up the bacon and eggs and put it on the table.

"He put an egg on Maddie's plate with some bacon and a piece of toast." She looked at it like it might bite her.

"Gibbs I like Coco-Pops for breakfast." Maddie said.

"Maddie, Jethro has gone to the trouble of making this for us. Couldn't you just try it?" her mother asked, well nearly begged really. Gibbs frowned at her.

"Come on Maddie, this is breakfast. Just eat it." Gibbs said in a tone that brooked no disobedience. Maddie stared at him and then at the plate.

"I don't like the white bit." She said.

"Then don't eat the white bit. Eat the rest of the egg and your bacon and then you can have jelly on your toast." Maddie looked again from her plate to Gibbs and back to her plate again. She must have concluded that this was a fair compromise, or at least the best one she was gonna get out of Gibbs this morning, because she started eating. Kim sighed in relief, grateful that she had decided against turning breakfast into a war zone.

"Good girl Maddie." Gibbs said smiling.

It was just on Midday when Tony and Ziva arrived at the McGee's with a stack of DVDs a foot high that Tony had brought for Dyl to watch. Some of which Abby confiscated as she sifted through them for suitability. Anything she thought was too violent got shelved, which thankfully for Dyl weren't many. Tim was barbecuing today so Tony hadn't made his pasta but Ziva had brought a beautiful cake and a couple of different salads.

The next to arrive were Jimmy and Amber who came bearing gifts for Dyl. Amber had a bunch of get well balloons that they had picked up on the way and Jimmy had brought him a new DS game. "Thanks Jimmy and you Amber." Dyl said as he ripped open the package.

"You're welcome Dyl." Jimmy said. "I just hope you're feeling better soon." he said. Amber kissed his head which made him blush. Nobody noticed as Jess stomped up to her room and slammed the door.

Next Ducky arrived and everyone greeted him warmly. They hadn't seen him last week as he had another engagement. He also had a present for Dyl."What have you done to yourself young man." He said. "I hope you were wearing a helmet."

"I was Ducky." Dyl said.

"Very good. I've seen such terrible injuries in children that think it's more important to look cool than to wear a helmet." Ducky said.

"Yep! Nothin cool about havin your brains smooshed all over the road." Tony said.

"TONY!" Ziva said. "There is no need to be so graphic."

"I was just agreeing with Ducky." Tony said.

Dyl giggled.

"Where's Jess?" Ducky asked. "I have a little something for her and Maddie too." Ducky said.

"I don't know Ducky." Tim said. "She must have gone up to her room to play."

"Never mind. I'll give it to them together later when Maddie arrives. So what is this little Maddie like? I haven't had the pleasure, of meeting her or her mother."

"Kids a holy terror!" Tony said.

"She's a bit better Tony!" Abby said. "And Kim's turned out to be really nice, Duckman. She's just a bit out of her depth with Maddie that's all. The kid has issues."

"Perhaps Kim needs to take her to see someone." Ducky said.

"A man with a big hand?" Ziva said. "She already has. There have been some improvements." They all laughed.

"Thanks for the new chess set Ducky." Dyl said. "Will you teach me how to play later?"

"It would be my pleasure Dylan." Ducky said willingly.

Zac arrived next also with a stack of DVDs. Abby didn't check these. "Hey!" Tony said. "How come his DVDs didn't have to pass the ratings board?"

"Because he's used to kids and he knows what 'age appropriate' means." Tim said.

"So do I!" Tony said.

"Which is why I guess you brought 'Die Hard' one, two, three and four." Abby said punching him in the arm. Tony punched her back gently. Ziva rolled her eyes.

"Hey!" Gibbs said as he walked in the door. "Great example you two." He said as he walked in on Tony and Abby's play fight.

"Hey Gibbs!" Abby said hugging him tightly. "Hi Kim." She kissed Kim on the cheek and hugged her. "Hi Maddie!" she said trying to hug the little girl who was still wary.

"Hi Abby. Where's Jess?" she said.

"Upstairs I think. But come over here for a minute first. There's a couple of people you haven't met yet." Abby took her hand firmly in hers not giving her the chance to escape. "This is Zac, he's Sarah's boyfriend.

"Hi Zac." Maddie said.

"And this is our very good friend Dr Mallard. But you can call him Ducky."

"Hi Zac, Hi Ducky." She said politely. "Can I go and see Jess now?"

"Course you can. Have fun." Abby called after her as she ran up the stairs.

Maddie reached Jess room and opened the door to find her lying on the bed with a scowl on her face. "Hi Jess. What the matter?" Maddie asked.

"Stupid dumb Dyl, broked his arm and now everyone is kissing him and hugging him and bringing him presents. I wish I broke my arm."

"Wanna play something?" Maddie asked.

"I guess." Jess said. "What do you wanna play?"

"Your Mommy has cool clothes. Wanna play dress up?" Maddie asked.

Jess thought about what her Daddy had said. "No, I'm not allowed to go through other people stuff."

"Come on Jess, I'll be your friend." Maddie tried.

"I can't Maddie. I'll get in big trouble."

"Please, please, pretty please?" Maddie begged.

"No Maddie!" Jess said.

"We won't break anything and I promise I won't take anything. We'll just dress up!" Maddie whined. And then she said the one thing that started to swing Jess who already had her nose out of joint. "They won't even notice Jess. They're only worried about Dylan."

Jess took a big angry breath. Maddie was right. They were so busy. All of them looking after Dyl and watching him unwrap his presents no one would care where she was.

"We have to check where they are first." Jess said creeping out of her door and to the top of the stairs. Looking down she couldn't see anyone in the living room and she could hear voices outside, so she assumed that they had moved Dyl out to the patio. "Ok." She said as she took Maddie's hand.

As they opened the big door to Abby's closet, Maddie's mouth dropped open. "This is way cool!" she said. "Does your Mommy like to play dress up too?" she asked.

"She must." Jess said confused. She hadn't seen her Mommy wearing these things before. "Maybe they were for Halloween or somethin." She said.

"I wanna be a nurse first." She said enthusiastically. She grabbed a stepping stool from inside the closet and got up and lifted the costume off the hanger. "Maybe Abby had this when she was a little girl, it's not very big." Maddie said.

"Neither is this cleaning lady one." Jess said all thoughts of being caught now completely out of the girls heads, they were so engrossed in this enthralling game. As Jess lifted her outfit out of the closet she noticed something was attached. It was a bag stuck on the hanger. Jess put on the costume, and then looked inside the bag. Emptying the contents she found some stocking things with holes in them and an elastic kind of belt thing. She didn't know what to do with that and a little feather duster. Jess put on the stockings but they were way too big and they kept rolling down.

Outside on the patio, Dyl was lying on an outside lounger asleep. The pain killers were still making him really tired. As usual, when they barbecued, Gibbs and Ducky were at the helm while Tim brought stuff back and forwards from the kitchen. Jimmy and Tony were playing one on one and Sarah and Zac were in the house watching a movie. The girls were getting settled in at the table for their weekly gossip session. Finally Abby got her chance. "So Kim." She said trying to sound only mildly interested. "You and Gibbs sleeping together yet?"

"Abby!!" Tim said as he walked past.

"What?! You had to know I was gonna ask McGee?"

"Ah yeh Abs, but there is such a thing as subtlety." He said shaking his head as he walked away. "And you better watch that Gibbs doesn't hear you." Ok Abby thought. That was true. So she repeated her question in a whisper. "Are you and Gibbs sleeping together yet?"

Ziva and Amber burst out laughing. Kim leaned over towards Abby. She had been dying to tell Abby as much as Abby had been dying to know. "Yes!"

"I KNEW IT!!!!" Abby said jumping up and down. Then remembering Dyl was asleep, she lowered her tone. "Ok Kim. I need details."

"Well. He stayed over Friday night and again last night."

"That's a start Kim, but I need details. Like real details. This is the closet we've ever been to finding out ......about the REAL Gibbs." She said.

"What do you want to know?" Kim said laughing. "Ok. One question each."

"Is he a decent kisser?" Amber asked.

"Yes he certainly is." Kim answered. "Abby?"

"Not ready yet. Let Ziva go first. If I can only have one question, I have to make it count."

"Ok. Ziva?" Kim asked.

"What does he wear to bed?" Abby's head popped up.

"That was a good one Zi. That helps me out a bit."

"Nothing." Kim said.

"WOW!!!" they all said.

"My turn!" Abby said perkily. "Is he as Alpha male in bed as he is all the rest of the time?" Abby could feel the hair standing up on the back of her neck and she turned around. "God! Don't do that Gibbs."

"Do what Abby?" he said with a smirk.

"Sneak up on me like that."

"This conversation ends now. If you're gonna talk about me like that Abs, do it when I'm out of earshot or you might find out just how 'Alpha male' I can really be."

"Point taken." Abby said. When Gibbs turned around Kim mouthed YES.

All the girls burst out laughing. Gibbs didn't even bother to turn around.

Upstairs the girls were having a ball. They'd taken off the costumes they were wearing and threw them on the floor while they went looking for their next choice. "I wanna wear the bunny one." Maddie said, pulling it down off the rack.

"I wanna be the cheerleader." Jess said getting hers down after Maddie had got off the ladder. The girls both put on there costumes. They were a little big, but they still had fun parading around in front of the mirror. Maddie was admiring her self as she put on the bunny ears. Her tail was a little droopy in the back but she thought she looked good. She didn't know why a bunny would need a bow on their neck but she put it on anyway.

Jess had on the cheerleading skirt that was a little big, but not much. Her Mommy must have bought this a long time ago, she thought. She jumped up and down and shook the pom poms. The top was even smaller than the skirt. It looked like a bikini top only it had letters written on it.

"We really need some music to dance." Maddie said.

"They'll hear us." Jess said.

'No they won't. Not if we don't turn it up loud. They're outside and they've got their own music on anyway. Jess walked over to Abby's cd player and pressed the button she'd seen her Mommy pressing and the room came to life with Plastic death.

"Your Mommy has the coolest stuff." Maddie said as she danced around Jess's parents bedroom.

Downstairs, Sarah and Zac looked up from their movie. "Oh no!" Sarah said. "That's Abby's music, coming from their bedroom and they're both outside." She said. "I better go and see what they're up to." She kissed Zac and crept up the stairs seeing if she could catch them in the act of whatever it was they were doing.

She gasped in shock when she saw the state of Abby and Tim's bedroom. "What on earth are you two doing?" she said. "Where did you get all this stuff?"

Strewn all over the room were remnants of their dress up party. Jess looked around properly at the room for the first time. So did Sarah. Gross Abby she thought.

"Well we didn't mean to make a mess Sarah, but we thought that no one would notice 'cause they're only looking at dumb Dylan with his broken arm."

"What's that got to do with this mess."

Jess shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I was mad. Everybody buyed Dyl presents and not me."

"That's not a good enough excuse Jess, this was very naughty. And You Maddie, were naughty too. You both know better after last week than to go into other people's rooms and touch their stuff. Especially your Mommy and Daddy's Jess. There could be stuff in there that's.........." she stopped mid sentence, because she really didn't know how to explain it. "Well anyway you just shouldn't have made this mess. Now you're gonna be in big trouble."

Jess's big blue eyes filled with tears. Maddie's were also watering. "I don't wanna be in trouble."Jess said sadly.

"Well you should have thought about that." Sarah said.

"Please don't tell Sarah. We'll clean it up, and I won't do it again I promise."

"Yeh please Sarah." Maddie said with her hands together begging. Sarah looked at the two protruding bottom lips and watery eyes and folded.

"Oh alright! But we better hurry up and clean this mess up or we'll all be in trouble." Sarah said, starting to pick up clothes and pu them on hangers.

"Yes you will." Tim said from the doorway. "What on earth is going on in here."

TBC


	34. Chapter 34

Thank you all so much for your reviews and alerts. I really do appreciate them all. Well most of them anyway. I don't mind constructive critisism. Just please try to keep yourself nice. Use your out of the house special manners. I Hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 34

Sarah looked up at Tim. Shit she thought. Why didn't I just tell someone on the little brats? They deserve to be in trouble. She hadn't made any of this mess. She decided to try and bully her way out. It didn't usually work well with Tim but she was in trouble already so.......In for a penny in for a pound, as they say.

"What's going on here Tim, is that your little girl has made a mistake. She was feeling neglected with Dyl getting all the attention and so she acted out. Any psychologist will tell you......." Tim put his hand up.

"Just stop Sarah. If Jess was feeling bad she should have told someone. There is no excuse for trashing somebody else's things, because you're angry and hurt. You should have come and got me or Abby when you found this mess."

"If you think...."

"Save it Sarah!" Tim said. "I wasn't planning on being too harsh, but if you want to keep it up I can easily change my mind." Sarah shut up. "Now you two. If you wanted to play dress up you should have asked and I'm sure Jess, that your Mommy would have found some stuff for you to dress up in. You don't go in to someone else's room and help your self. Do you?"

"No Daddy." Jess said.

"I'm sure you know better after last week too. Don't you Maddie?" he said.

Maddie nodded.

"Right. First we're going down to lunch before the food spoils......"

"Can I ask a question?" Maddie asked.

"Go ahead Maddie." Tim said. He held his breath, hoping that the question was not going to be what he thought. Of course it was.

"Where did all these dress ups come from?"

"Abby collects them." he answered, hoping that would be it. Of course it wasn't.

"What for?" she said.

"She likes to dress up." Tim said.

"Why?" Maddie asked.

"Yeh why Tim?" Sarah asked. Tim's look, told her that now would not be the best time to make things worse.

"She just does." Tim said. "Now what you three should be concerned about is how much trouble you're in. I came up to get you for lunch. So come on. As soon as lunch is over you're going to wash the dishes......."

"But we have a dish washer." Sarah said.

"Which we won't be using." Tim said.

"But there's heaps of people Tim." Sarah said.

"Would you rather go with the alternative?" Tim asked.

"Not really." Sarah said

Tim stood in the door way and held his arm out directing the girls to go through. As each one past he gave them a smack. Maddie glared at Tim and rubbed her bottom but she didn't dare say anything. Jess didn't say anything because she knew she'd done the wrong thing and she was lucky not to be getting a spanking. Sarah rolled her eyes and Tim grabbed her arm, holding her back.

"I'm just making a point here Sarah, to you AND the girls. They shouldn't have asked you to not tell and you know that you should have told. They need to see that they got you in trouble by putting you in that position. So just help the girls with the dishes and we'll leave it at that for you. They will be cleaning up this room without your help."

"Ok. Fine." She said.

"But Sarah, don't keep things from us. And lose the attitude. I'm still your legal guardian and it's my job to pull you up sometimes."

"I'm sorry Tim." She said.

"Thankyou. And Sarah? I do appreciate what a good help you are to us with the younger ones. We still think of you as ours, you know that right?"

Sarah smiled. "Yeh Tim I do. And I like helping out with the kids. I love them."

Tim kissed her forehead and they went downstairs together.

"Nice collection of outfits and accessories Tim." Sarah said when they got to the bottom step and then she darted off for the safety of a crowd.

They all sat down to lunch and surprisingly there were no real issues with food from Maddie. The only one who had a real issue with the food was Amber who ended up with a plate of crackers and a glass of club soda. Morning sickness that went all day was awful. Jimmy had trouble eating himself when he saw his Amber struggling to keep down a cracker.

"Are you sick?" Maddie asked.

"Um...yeh Maddie....just a little bit." Amber answered.

"Why? Do you have the flue?" she asked.

"No, I'm just not feeling very well."

"She's gonna have a baby." Jess said.

"But she's not married." Maddie said. "You've gotta be married to have a baby."

"They are gonna get married aren't you Amber? Aren't you Jimmy?" jess said.

"Yep, we sure are." Jimmy said squeezing Amber's hand.

"They're gonna be like Bridal Barbie and Bridal Ken." Jess said.

"That's pretty cool." Maddie said. "Do you like to dress up?"

Tim knew where this was going and he tried to head it off at the pass.

"Ok girls, time to clean up now. I think that everyone finished." Turning to the curious faces around the table, Tim tried to explain. The girls made a mess upstairs and they're going to do the dishes and give the dishwasher a well deserved rest. And then they're going to clean up our bedroom. Aren't you girls?"

They both nodded.

"What were you doing in Abby and Tim's bedroom Maddie?" her Mommy asked.

"Playing dress up." She said.

"Did you ask permission first?" Gibbs asked both girls.

Jess shook her head. Maddie looked away from Gibbs and towards her mother. "You don't understand. We didn't mean to make a big mess but we couldn't stop. We needed to try everything. It was way cool in there." Abby stood up and started to help hurry the girls along. She could see Tim was going to have a seizure with embarrassment in a minute. His face was bright red.

"OK Ladies. I don't know what you got up to but if Timmy says you're cleaning up, then you're cleaning up." She said clapping her hands. "Chop! Chop! Come on. Let's get going." Sarah got up and started stacking dishes.

Tony grinned. He would just wait a little bit for the perfect moment and then he would go up and see what all this was about. Judging by the panic stricken look on Tim's face, it was worth a look. Dress ups hey? He could just imagine.

Gibbs and Kim looked at each other. Not much to say really. Tim and Abby seemed to have it all under control. Besides, the full story would come out eventually. It always did in this house. In the kitchen, Abby pulled Tim off to the side. "What's this all about Tim?" she said.

"They were playing dressup." Tim said in an exaggerated whisper." 'DRESS UP!' Abby. With things from your closet. There's stuff all over the bedroom floor and when I caught them, Jess was wearing a cheerleader outfit and Maddie was dressed up like a Playboy Bunny." Abby giggled. "It's not funny Abs!" he said.

"It kind of is Timmy. You worry too much." Abby said, still having a giggle every time she thought about it.

"Today is Sunday." Tim said pointedly.

"The day of rest!" Abby said teasing him.

"That's not what I mean Abby. Tomorrow is Monday. School. Sister Mary Clarence. Show and Tell? I can just hear Jess telling the class how she dressed up in her mommy's 'special' dressup outfits. Then describing them. The cheerleader, the bunny, the nurse, the French maid.....Should I go on?"

"No. I get the picture." She said trying hard not to laugh. "How many of the .......accessories did they find?"

"Oh God! I didn't even think about that. We better go up and do a stocktake." Tim said. "Sarah do you mind supervising here?"

"No I don't mind." She said with a grin. "You two go and do..... whatever it is you have to do."

Abby and Tim went up to their bedroom. Abby was shocked at just how much mess the girls had made. They had obviously only tried on the outfits that had taken their fancy because there were lots of stuff that they had thrown on the floor that hadn't been taken off the hangers. Thank God. Abby started to gather these up when there was a sound in the doorway. "Well, well, well. What do we have here." Tony said. "Tim, I'm shocked! I have never seen this many ADULT dress up outfits outside of a sex shop."

"I am so sorry Abby, I tried to stop him but..........Oh ........you do have a lot of......clothes...........AND accessories." she said picking up a pair of furry handcuffs and dangling them in front of Tim. "Do you use these often?" Tim blushed bright red and Tony grinned.

"Actually, they're really flimsy. They just come apart as soon as you pull....."

"Abby!!!" Tim said as he snatched the handcuffs back off Ziva.

"Well I particularly like this nurse's outfit." Tony said holding it up. "Do you have to be sick Timmy to make her wear this? Does it make you feel all better?" Tony teased.

"Ok guys. You've had your fun." Tim said.

"As have you Probie, it would seem." Tony said. "Alright. Let's go down stairs and play a little one on one. Have you got another cheerleader outfit? The girls could get dressed up and chee......Ouch."

"Leave them alone Tony." Gibbs said as he slapped the back of his head. "Geez. They sure did do a job in here. I'll send them up if you like. They've finished with the dishes."

"Thanks Gibbs." Abby said. He smirked.  
"Nice Playboy outfit Abs." she giggled. Tim scowled.

"Why don't you two go and put out dessert." Tim said.

"Good idea." Ziva said. As soon as they left, Tim started gathering up some things that he didn't want the kids to see. He didn't feel like explaining their uses right now. He had no sooner finished putting them away when the girls came slowly in to the room.

"Ok girls. Pick up all these clothes and put them back on the hangers and then lay them on the bed. Then I'll hang them up in the closet. I don't want you climbing on the ladder. You could fall." Abby said. "You KNOW Jess, that this was really naughty. You're lucky your not going to get a spanking." Tim went back downstairs to put on coffee and left Abby to it. It actually didn't take that long to get it all cleaned up when they had someone to organise them.

When they were finished, Abby sent Maddie back downstairs to Kim, so that she could talk to Jess. "Why did you come in here Jess. You know that what you did was wrong. Don't you?"

"Yes." She said sadly.

"Then why did you do it. Did Maddie give you a hard time?"

"It was her idea, but I wanted to come. I was mad. Everyone loves Dyl more, just because he broke his stupid arm. "It's not fair."

"Oh I see. Well, I'm sorry that you feel that way but it's not true. Everyone loves you. Life is like that Jess. Sometimes Dyl will get a little more attention that you and sometimes you will get a little more attention than him. But that doesn't mean that we don't love you just the same. We're family Jess. We'll always love each other. Like when Amber gets married, everyone's going to be looking at her but that doesn't mean that I will love Ziva any less. It will just be Amber's turn to get the attention. Do you understand?"

"I guess."

"You wanna know something really silly?" Abby said. Jess nodded.

"While you were up here getting yourself in trouble because you thought no one was paying you any attention, Ducky was downstairs waiting for you and Maddie to come down because he had a gift for the two of you."

"Serious?"

"Yep."

"Can I go and see him now?" she asked.

"Yep."

Jess went to run off and then came back and hugged Abby. "I'm sorry I got into your stuff Mommy." She said.

"You're forgiven." Abby said.

"Mommy?" Jess asked. "Did you have all that stuff from when you were a little girl?"

"Why would you think that?" Abby asked.

"Because they're kind of small." She said seriously. "If you wore those skirts people would be able to see your underwear."

"You know what Jess? We better hurry downstairs or Uncle Tony's going to eat all of Auntie Ziva's cake." She said. Jess faked a shocked look and they both went downstairs to get their dessert.

After dessert, Ducky called the girls over to him. "I have a little gift for you." He said producing two presents wrapped in pink paper. The girls were both very excited.

"Thank you Ducky." Jess said, kissing him on the cheek. Maddie did the same.

"You're very welcome young ladies." He said. The girls tore open their packages and soon each found a bead threading jewellery making kit inside.

"Thank you Ducky!" Maddie said first this time, throwing her arms around his neck. It was Jess's turn to follow her lead. Gibbs came over to inspect the gifts.

"Wow! These are great. Why don't we take them in to the kitchen. We can sit at the table and make bracelets."

Tony,Tim and Jimmy all exchanged glances. Each were wondering if they had fallen into an alternative universe. After a while though, curiosity got the better of them and they all went to see what Gibbs and the girls were making. Soon they found that the bead threading got them in and before long they were all sporting brightly coloured bracelets that they had made themselves. To look at them no one would ever have imagined that the four men sitting at the table making jewellery with two little girls were highly trained federal agents and a medical examiner in the making. But the truth was, there was no other way any of them would rather spend a Sunday.

TBC


	35. Chapter 35

Thankyou all for your lovely reviews and alerts. I really do appreciate them. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter and I hope that (Abby) finds whatever it is that she's looking for. I don't know exactly what I've done to her but she obviously hates this story and has threatened to keep reporting my stories until they take them all down. I hope that doesn't happen, but if it does we all know who we have to thank. I don't really think she can do anything because as far as I can see I haven't broken any of the site rules. She however, is breaking the law with her cyber bullying. To all my loyal and faithful readers who I love, I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 35

"Now you've finished your punishment naughty girl, you wanna finish the movie or do something else." Zac said teasingly to Sarah.

Looking in through the kitchen doorway, she said. "You sure you wouldn't rather join the jewellery making class?" she said, teasing him right back.

He grinned. "Well not that I have anything against jewellery making, but there are some other things I would rather be doing." He said wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"Not here, to many people around." She said.

"We could go for a drive?" he said.

Sarah put her arms around his neck and kissed him. "Yes we certainly could. We shouldn't have to, when I have a perfectly nice room upstairs."

"Not happening Sarah. Tim would have a fit and I wouldn't blame him." Zac said.

"It's just a bit of making out. It's not like we're really gonna........."

"Not gonna what?" Dyl said as he came in from outside.

"Hey! How are you feeling little man?" Sarah asked. "How come you're up?"

"I'm feeling a bit better. Mom said I could come in and watch a movie." He said.

"Oh. OK . Well you go and lie on the sofa and I'll put it on for you. This the one you want?" she asked taking a DVD out of his hand.

"Yep. Thanks Sarah."

Sarah set up the movie and called out to Abby. "Zac and I are just going for a drive. OK?"

"Where to?" Abby asked.

"No where really, just a drive." She answered. Abby got up from the table and took Sarah by the arm. "You're not going to do anything..........not safe are you?"

"What? Like not wearing a seatbelt?" Sarah asked cheekily.  
"Very funny!" Abby said. "You know what I'm talking about Sar."

"I'm good Abby. Please just leave it." Sarah said.

"Ok. I'll leave it for now, but remember you promised to talk to me before you made any BIG decisions?"

"I remember." Sarah said kissing Abby on the cheek. "You can go back to your gossiping MOM, I'm fine. Don't worry." Abby gave Zac a scary look and went back to the girls at the patio table.

"How about we play a game or something?" Abby asked.  
"Yeh, well that didn't go so well last time if I remember rightly." Kim said.

"Hmmmpff! Some people just don't understand how passionate I can be about some things."

"Oh I am beginning to Abby." Ziva said. "That is quite a collection you have upstairs."

Abby grinned. "Yeh well. What can I say? Timmy and me, we like to spice things up. Besides, it wouldn't be the first time it's turned a punishment spanking into a moderately fun one." Abby said with a sly grin.

"I'm lost." Kim said.

"So am I." Amber said.

"Oh well!" Ziva said looking at Abby for the go ahead to tell the story. Abby smiled and nodded so she continued. "You know how Tim said that the girls made a mess in his and Abby's bedroom with dressing up?" Ziva explained. The women nodded. Kim cringed, not sure she was gonna like what she was about to hear. Abby grinned, she was enjoying their embarrassment just a little bit. "The clothes they were dressing up in were.......How would you explain them Abby?"

"I guess you'd say they were sexy adult role-play costumes." Abby said unabashed.

"Oh Abby. I'm so sorry that she got into your ....personal things. So.........you......you and Tim......you....?" Kim said surpised.

"Roleplay?" Abby said finishing her question.

"Yeh." Kim said, although Abby noticed all the other faces were trained on her waiting for an answer also.

"On occasion. Just for a bit of fun. And as I say, sometimes it can be a bit of a distraction from the real thing."  
"Sounds interesting Abby. Care to give us a for instance?" Amber asked smiling.

"Well, after the zoo thing, Tim sent me upstairs to sit in the corner and write out what I thought I'd done wrong. So I had a brain wave, and by the time he got up to our room, I was in the corner writing like he asked but I had put on my sexy schoolgirl costume."

"Did that get you out of a spanking Abby?" Ziva asked, even though she knew the answer.

"Actually that time it didn't." Abby said remembering. "He spanked me with a damn ruler. Geez that thing has a bite."

"So far, I'm failing to see the upside. Is there one?" Kim asked.

"If you count the mind blowing sex we had after there is." Abby said.

"Okay." Amber said slowly. "But you got the spanking anyway. Where is the distraction?"

"Inside my head." Abby said as if it was completely obvious.

Ziva laughed, as much at the other girl's confusion, as at Abby's explanation. She was very used to Abby's logic by now. "I do not think you are making much sense to them Abby." She said.

"Why? It's simple. Tim thinks that he's punishing me, which he is. But inside my head, I was playing a game. He wasn't Tim. He was the teacher and I was the wayward student. See? Everyone wins. He gets to punish me and I get to have fun.

"You better hope Tim doesn't ever hear about your theory." Kim said. "Is that the only reason you have the costumes?"

"Of course not. I don't even do it every time. Only if the mood strikes me. Sometimes I wear them for fancy dress parties or Halloween. Or sometimes just for sex." Tim had come out to see if anyone wanted anything to drink, but at hearing the tail end of that conversation, he turned around and went back inside. A few minutes later Jimmy came out to take the drinks orders. All the girls burst out laughing.

"What is so funny?" he asked.

"You don't wanna know." Amber answered him with a look that told him she'd tell him later.

"Fine." He said. "I know when I'm not wanted."

"OH diddems," Ziva said. "Come and sit with us and Abby will give you a lesson in role-play and its effect on your sex life, amongst other things."

Jimmy shot up from the table. "I think I'll pass on that thanks girls. I have to.......watch a movie with Dyl."

"Amber." Abby said. "What plans have you made for your wedding?"

"None really. We've talked about it but we haven't made a final decision. As you know, my family is back in California and it'll be too much to bring them all here. So we're actually thinking of having two weddings. One here and then another one over there with my family."

"WOW!!!" Abby said. "What a good idea."

"It's not final yet. It's just something we were thinking about."

"I am sure it will be beautiful whatever you decide." Ziva said. "Any idea when?"

"When the morning sickness goes." She said.

"Good idea. God that's horrible." Kim said.

Inside Gibbs and Tony and now Ducky were just tying off the last of their bracelets. The funny thing was that the girls had gotten bored and given up about fifteen minutes ago. They went up to Jess room to play with her dolls. But Gibbs, Ducky,Tony and Tim wanted to finish their bracelets. Ziva came into the room to get some drinks and decided to inspect the boy's work. Looking at Tony's bracelet, she smiled. "You do know that your colours are out of sequence do you not Tony?"

"What do you mean?" he said snatching it back. "Damn. Now I've gotta undo the knot and go back and fix it."

"What the hell are you talking about Dinozzo?"Gibbs said.

"The pattern Boss. I'm doing red,yellow, orange ,pink, red,yellow,orange,pink. Now I've gone and put a pink where an orange should be, right down here and it's wrecked the whole sequence thingy."

Gibbs scowled at him. "Are you serious Tony? Just thread the damn beads on the string. It's not hard."

"Fine!" Tony said pouting. "Stupid thing." He said under his breath.

"I heard that Dinozzo." Gibbs said.

"I was referring to the stupid beads Boss." He said.

"Actually Anthony, a bead is an inanimate object, therefore it can't actually be referred to as stupid." Ducky said.

"What he's trying to say Tony, is that if you have a problem with your bracelet, the fault is with the threader, not the beads." Tim said.

"AHA AHA AHA! McBig girl. Maybe I just haven't had the same amount of practice that you've had." Tony spat back.

"Or maybe I don't need any practice for such a simple little task."

"Do you boys need a time out?" Gibbs asked.

"No Boss." Tony said glaring at Tim. "Of course not Boss." Tim said glaring back at Tony.

"Good. Now finish your bracelets and we better pack this up. It's getting late."

Not long after that, everyone started to pack up their stuff and say their goodbyes. Tim helped Dyl have a bath so he wouldn't get his arm wet and Abby bathed Jess and washed her hair and helped her into her pyjamas. She then began the enormous task of combing out and untangling Jess long hair. Then she dried it with the hairdryer and braided it, so that it wouldn't get knots in over night. This took quite a while and by the time she and Jess got downstairs, Tim was just serving up the dinner. He had opted to make macaroni cheese because everyone liked it and Dylan could easily eat it with one hand.

After dinner, they swapped children and Tim went up to read a story to Jess, while Abby went to continue 'Harry Potter' with Dyl. Abby loved Harry Potter and they had a deal. Abby read one page to Dyl and Dyl read one page to Abby. This helped Dyl with his reading at the same time as being entertained by his Mom.

When the kids were asleep, Tim and Abby met up again downstairs. It was 8:30. "Sarah should be back soon Tim." Abby said. She could see that he was getting worried.

"I know. Where did they go anyway?"

"They went for a drive Tim."

"Where to?"

"Just a drive?........to nowhere? Parking. They've gone parking haven't they."

"Yes, Howard, I believe they have. Probably up to inspiration point." She giggled. "You don't think they're 'necking' do you?"

"Don't be a smart ass, and that's exactly what I think they're doing."

"Probably." Abby said calmly.

"How can you be so calm Abby. She's only seventeen!"

Abby took a deep breath. "She's not ONLY seventeen Tim. She IS seventeen. And a half actually. If they're making out, that's just what teenagers do. You're gonna have to relax."

"Tim. What did you do when you were seventeen?" Abby said trying to make him see rationally. He did stop and think. Then he opened up his laptop.

"What are you doing?" Abby asked with her hands on her hips.

"Putting out a BOLO."

"Tiiim!!! She's not doing anything wrong." He closed his computer.

"I know, it's just.......it's hard to think of her...."

"Don't think about it. Any way, she told me she's not ready for sex."

"Oh thank God!" Tim said.

They heard a key in the door, that was immediately followed by Sarah.

"Hi." She said yawning. "I'm just gonna go straight to bed. I'm really tired."

"OK Honey. Are you feeling alright?" Abby said.

"Yeh fine." She answered.

"You sure?" Abby said smiling. "Nothing you wanna talk to me about?"

"No I'm good." She said as she ran up the stairs.

The next morning, everyone was up and dressed, even Dyl who was working one handed. Abby went up to Sarah room and tapped her on the shoulder. "Wake up sleepy head. We,ve gotta go." She said.

As Sarah turned around, she saw what Sarah had been trying to hide last night. A big hicky.

"Um....Sarah? What's this on your neck?' Abby asked.

"Would you believe that I walked into a door?" Sarah asked.

"Not unless the door's name is Zac and it's suddenly turned into a vampire." Abby said.

"Okayy. You know what it is, let's just forget it. Ok?"

"Not ok. Did you actually sleep with him Sarah?" Abby asked.

"No Abby. I told you I'd tell you and I will."

"Sarah, I just don't want you to make a mistake that can change the rest of your life. Do you have protection?"

"OH Abby! I don't want to talk about this." Sarah said desperately.

"Alright. I'll leave it for now, but Tim's gonna flip when he sees that hickey."

"He won't see it."

Abby shook her head and started to leave. "Up Sarah. We have to go."

"I'm up." She said turning over and covering her head with her comforter.

"You've got three minutes and then I'm sending in the big guns."

Dead on three minutes later, Sarah wandered into the kitchen wearing a polo neck jumper.  
"Aren't you hot?" Tim asked her.

"No. Just because your hot, doesn't mean I'm hot." She said snarkily.

"Got up on the wrong side of the bed did we?" Tim asked.

"Leave me alone Tim. I'm tired." She said.

Tim looked at her closely and then at Abby. He stuck a finger inside the collar of Sarah's polo and pulled it out just a bit.  
"Should I be worried about this Sarah?" he said.

"No! You shouldn't be worried. Just leave it. Please."

Abby kissed her forehead. "We love you and we car about you Sarah."

"I know. But I'm I'm not stupid."

"Ok." Abby and Tim said together.

They dropped Sarah off first and she thanked them and walked off. Suddenly she turned and came back. "Thanks guys." She said. "It's kind of nice when you're overbearing.

"We love you too Sarah."

"What about us?" Came from the kids in the back of the car.

"We love you lots Dyl. And you Jess."

They both smiled.

TBC


	36. Chapter 36

Thank you all so much for you reviews and alerts and for your continued support. I really appreciate it. This is a rather long chapter. I hope you like it :)

Chapter 36

The next four days were pretty uneventful, in the McGee household and at NCIS. But starting with the Thursday morning everything started to unravel at once.

Abby was checking Jess's homework sheet from the night before and couldn't believe what she saw. Jess must have taken leave of her senses because she had coloured the whole sheet in purple marker. No writing could be seen anywhere. "OH Jess! Why would you do that?" Abby asked desperately.

"I was makin it pretty." She answered innocently but with an air of apprehension. She could see by the look of annoyance on her mother's face that this probably hadn't been a wise choice. Abby sighed. "Oh well. You'll just have to take it in like that tomorrow and I'll send a note explaining what happened. But don't do that again sweetie." she said brushing out the little girls hair as fast as she could. "Homework is not for playing."

Tim arrived at Jess door wincing at the look that was already on his wife's face and he hadn't delivered his news yet. "Sorry Abs, I'm gonna have to go. We have a case. Tony and Ziva are picking me up so you'll have the car to drop the kids off."

"Thanks McGee." Abby said sighing again. Great! She thought.

"Tim kissed her gently on the lips and then bent down to kiss Jess. "Be good today Jess."

"I will Daddy." She said. Tim looked at the homework and smiled at Abby. We'll sort something out tonight. Abby braided Jess hair and went to wake Sarah up for the third time.

"OK Sarah. I'm serious this time. GET UP! NOW!" Abby said tapping her lightly on the backside.

"Geez Abby. You don't have to shout. All you had to do was ask nicely." Sarah said dragging herself out of bed and heading for the shower.

"I did ask nicely." Abby said to the closed door. "Twice. You don't hear nice in the morning you only hear loud." The door opened a crack.

"You say something Abs?" Sarah said cheekily.

"Never mind." Abby said. "Be ready in ten minutes, we're getting drive thru McDonald's on the way to school.

"MOM!" Dylan was shouting from his room. "MOM!" "MOM!" Abby rushed in to see what was wrong.

"What's wrong Dyl?" she asked concerned.

"I can't find my shoes." He said.

"Are you serious? You yelled at me from three rooms away because you couldn't find your shoes? How could you lose your shoes anyway?"

"I think I left them at Toby's house." Great! Abby thought. Where's my cell phone. After hunting through her bedroom and the kitchen, she finally found her cell on the bed in Jess room. Before she could dial, there was a knock on the front door. She went to answer it and found Toby carrying Dylan's shoes.

"Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou Toby." Abby said kissing him on the cheek. "We'll see you at school honey. We're running a bit late."

"OK." He said brightly before running off. Abby managed to hustle everyone along and with in ten minutes they were driving through the drive thru at McDonalds. Abby put in their order and paid and then gave the bag to Sarah who distributed the food. As usual there were complaints and bickering, poking and snatching until Abby pulled the car over to the side of the road and beeped the horn.

"Whatever it is that Sarah passes to you....." she said in a deadly quiet voice."Is your breakfast this morning. Eat it. Not one more word out of anyone. If I actually have to stop this car again. NOONE is gonna like what happens. Got it?"

Silence and three nodding heads told her that they had received the message. Another five minutes and they were in front of Sarah's school. "Bye Abby." She said quietly.

"Bye Hun! Love you." Abby said with a smile. Next Abby pulled up outside Jess and Dyl's school. Abby checked her watch. Fantastic. Five minutes late. She'd have to sign them in. Unbuckling her belt she jumped out and got the kids out of the car. Taking Jess hand she walked the kids up to the main building and towards the office. "Hi. I'm sorry, we're running a bit late, could I sign the kids in please so they can go to class?"

"Sure." the smiling lady behind the counter said. Thank God. Abby thought, the nice one is on. "Here you go." She said passing Abby the late book. She passed the kids each a slip to take to their teacher and told them to hurry. Abby kissed the kids goodbye and turned to hand the book back. Great the nice one had gone and the B.......Not so nice one was there.

"So....Mrs McGee. Will we be seeing you at the bake sale tomorrow? I noticed that you didn't return the note that was sent home." Abby looked mystified.

"UM....What note?" she said.

"We sent notes out to every student on Monday about tomorrow's bake sale."

"I didn't get a note!" Abby said. The woman looked at her wryly.

"I didn't I'm telling you! I would have noticed a note.........wait, was it about the size of a home work sheet?"

"Yes it would be."

"Sh.........shivers. I think that Jess may have coloured it in completely with purple marker.I thought it was her homework. Well not that we'd normally let her colour her homework sheet in. If we noticed. Not that we wouldn't notice her doing that. But well, you can't watch them all the time and well s.......stuff happens. Doesn't it?" she said wincing at her own words and the look on the not so nice lady's face.

"Does it Mrs McGee? More to you than most it seems." Abby narrowed her eyes and sucked in a breath in a hope that she might be able to control herself from saying what she really wanted to.

"Could I have another information sheet about the bake sale please." She said in a measured tone.

"Well we really only hand out one sheet per family. Paper waste and costs you know." The b........not so nice one said.

"Here's what's gonna happen." Abby said with her eyes narrowed dangerously by now. "You're going to give me, the damn note about the bake sale. And this afternoon, when I pick up my children, I will bring you a WHOLE PACKET of f........fresh paper to s.........stash or use anyway that you would like." The nice woman leaned over the nasty one and handed Abby a note.

"Thankyou so much." Abby said to her with a smile. And she left.

When Abby got to her lab, extremely late now, thanks to the stupid woman at the school, she turned on her babies and got the note out of her bag.

**THIS FRIDAY'S BAKE SALE**

**PARENTS ARE ASKED TO DONATE HOMEMADE **

**CAKES, MUFFINS OR COOKIES TO OUR STALLS!**

**WE WOULD ALSO APPRECIATE IT IF ANY DEDICATED**

**PARENTS COULD COME AND HELP SORT, PRICE AND SELL **

**THE BAKED GOODS ON THE DAY. **

**FRIENDS AND FAMILY ARE ENCOURAGED**

**TO COME ALONG AND BUY OUR WARES!**

**PROCEEDS WILL BE GOING TO OUR WINTER APPEAL!**

"That's tomorrow!" she said out loud. Fishing her cell out of her pocket she speed dialled Tim.

"McGee." He answered. He pulled the phone away from his ear a little as Abby started her rant. He was taking crime scene photographs so he put the call on speaker.

"It wasn't homework McGee! It was a note. She must have had it since Monday although I don't know where she had it hidden, I would have found it. But I didn't Tim and now it's a big mess because it's tomorrow, and I've gotta bake and go there and put on prices. How would I know how much a cake costs McGee? I don't even know how to make those little kid cakes. I could make some cookies I guess but I'll have to do two lots 'cause it's for Dyl too. He didn't get the note because he wasn't at school on Monday. How can they trust a six year old with an important note anyways? TIMMY Are you listening to me?"

"Abs? Slow down honey. I know that this seems really important but we have a dead marine here and...." Gibbs stood staring at McGee. "I've gotta go Abby. I'll talk to you when we get back. I know......" Gibbs took his phone and closed it.

"It's a bake sale McGee not a national incident. Get back to work."

"On it Boss." He said staring at his phone. The day could only get better from here couldn't it?

When Gibbs and the three agents brought the evidence down to Abby's lab, It was to a very cold reception from Abby.

Tim tried ,but she wouldn't speak to him. "Abs honey, come on. I was at a crime scene. I had important things..... Ok, I know this bake sale is important too but you know that there's a time window to get the evidence bagged and tagged and the photos taken.

"Geez McGee, anyone would think you processed the scene all by yourself." Abby said spitefully. Gibbs intervened.

"Tim, go back up and start with the paper work and the bank records. You can see Abby in a couple of hours. Maybe she'll be in a better frame of mind then." Abby glared at Gibbs then at Tim and back to Gibbs again. "We have work to do Abby. Do you think you're going to need some help to focus?" he said giving her a stern look.

"No Gibbs." She said signing off on the evidence. Tony and Ziva got out of there as quickly as they could.

As Abby started processing the evidence, she answered Gibbs questions but her answers were very clipped and to the point. Gibbs eventually gave up and started to leave. Thinking better of leaving her in this mood, he came back and whispered in her ear. "Thin ice Abby. Thin ice." He smacked her once on the backside and left.

Abby did all she could with the evidence and then there wasn't much more she could do but wait for the results. She decided to ring Kim. "Hi." She said sadly.

"What's wrong?" Kim said reading Abby's tone.

"It's this Bake sale. I only just found out about it this morning and now I have to bake, well first I have to go buy the stuff to bake and THEN bake and then package it all up, for two kids and we're in the middle of a case so God knows what time I'm gonna get out of here."

"Slow down. I'm home Abby. Why don't I just do extras and then you can pick them up on your way home."

"That's a really nice offer Kim, but this is my kids first bake sale. I wanted to do it myself." Abby explained.

"Ok, then you'll have to go the no bake route. Look up fridge recipes."

"What the hell is a fridge recipe?"

"It's like stuff that you can make that goes in the fridge instead of the oven." Kim said.

"Sounds like the sort of stuff that mothers who can't cook make." Abby said.

"Well, not necessarily Abby, it's also for mothers who are too busy or ...' Abby cut her off.

"I don't want people to think I'm too busy for my kids. I'll bake! Like everyone else." She said. "I better go, Mr King of the crime scene is here."

"A little less of the sarcasm would be nice Abby." He took her chin between his fingers and forced her face up to look at him. " I'm giving you a bit of leeway here because I know you've had a bad day. But I won't put up with it for ever so be warned. I treat you with respect and I expect you to treat me the same way."

Seeing Abby's face soften he pulled her into a hug. "Now do you want to try and tell me calmly what the problem is?"

Abby thrust the note at him. "The thing that Jess coloured in was the same size as her homework sheet,so I assumed that's what it was. But, I think it must have been this note." Tim quickly read the note.

"What's the big problem. I'm sure Gibbs will gibe you a couple of hours off tomorrow."

"What about the baking Tim?" she asked.

"Well, it says on here cookies." he said pointing to the section. "We'll just go and buy a lot of packets of cookies and tip them into a container and send those." He said.

Abby punched Tim in the arm. "TIMOTHY MCGEE!!! Are you suggesting that I cheat? I thought you said that cheating is cheating."

"It's only cheating Abby if you don't tell them that you bought them."Tim said. "Tell them we were busy."

"Why don't you just get me a hat with BAD MOMMY on it McGee!" she said hands on hips. "If I was gonna do that , I would have taken Kim up on her offer."

"Kim offered?" Tim asked hopefully."We could pay her."

"I turned her down. I'm gonna do it myself." Abby said stubbornly.

"Abby do you think that that's a good idea?" Tim asked.

"Obviously you don't. Thankyou Timmy for the vote of confidence." She said stomping around the lab noisily in her platform shoes.

"I'm not saying you can't do this Abby, I'm just saying we are working parents. There must be an easier way. What about a bakery?" Abby narrowed her eyes. Putting her hand behind her, she picked up the first thing that she felt from her desk and through it at Tim. Luckily, he ducked. But after turning around and spying Abby's stapler on the ground, his blood started to boil. He bent to pick it up and brought it over to where Abby was standing. "You just missed me by about a quarter of an inch Abby. Anything to say for yourself?"

"UM.... sorry?" she offered. "I didn't mean it."

"You will be and yes you did." He said crossly. "You were aiming for my head."

Tim grabbed her and tucked her under his arm. His rapid fire spanks set her bottom on fire with a few minutes. It didn't take long until she was spouting apologies and promises all over the place." Tim stopped. All he wanted to do really was make her calm down a tad. Once she got herself into such a state that she started throwing things,he knew it would be a down hill spiral until he did something.

Abby stood up pouting and rubbing her bottom. "I'm sorry Timmy." She said.

"Are you gonna stop now?"Tim said.

"Stop what McGee?" she said still slightly moodily. Have you not had enough he said pulling her back under his arm.

"No! no, no, I have Timmy I promise...... I just wanna be a good Mom."

"You are a good Mom Abs. I fail to see what baking has to do with that. But if that's what makes you happy I'll comprimise. We'll go to the supermarket on the way home and buy the supplies for what ever you want to make. But we are also buying packet mixes in case the other stuff doesn't turn out. Deal?"

"Deal! And you'll help me?"

"Of course I will." He said smiling.

"Thanks Timmy. You're the best!" she said grinning and hugging him tight. AS Timmy got into the elevator he said a silent prayer that this good mood would hold. He really needed a back up plan just in case.

When he got to the bullpen, Tim made a beeline for Ziva's desk. "Ziva." He said smiling.

"Yes Tim. How can I help you? I believe that baking is the problem."

"Ah yes. Abby's good at some cooking, but she doesn't know much about cup cakes and stuff like that." He said.

"McGee, I would gladly help you, but I already offered, Abby is determined to do this herself." She said.

"Ok." He said sadly. "She's a scientist right? She should be able to follow a recipe."

"Yes she should." Ziva smiled.

"Then why do I have such a bad feeling about this?"

Ziva chuckled. "Because this is Abby we are talking about. She never does a thing with halves."

"You mean, she never does anything by halves."

"That is what I just said."

"OK. And your right ,she doesn't."

They were finally able to get out of there by 8:00 o'clock. Luckily the case had been straightforward or it could have been much later. Jimmy had finished early so had volunteered to take the kids home to Sarah, who had them fed and in bed by the time they got home. They had stopped at the supermarket and bought their supplies, bringing the time to 9:30 by the time they were actually in the door.

Abby refused to eat dinner as she wanted to make a start on the cup cakes. She got out the recipe that she had printed out and laminated at work and placed it on the table. "Right Timmy. This recipe makes 30 cup cakes. I want to make at least a hundred."

"A hundred cup cakes Abby? How the hell are we gonna make a hundred cup cakes? It's nearly 10:00 o'clock now?"

"Then we better stop complaining and get on with it Tim!!!" she said. "Now, if we want to make this recipe make a hundred we've gotta multiply the recipe by.....you know what Timmy? I think we should just make a hundred and twenty. It'll be easier to convert the recipe........What was that Timmy? I didn't just hear you say one of those words that are 'banned from this house', did I?" she said cheekily.

"No you didn't. Yet. Wouldn't it make it just as easy if we convert the recipe to 90. The recipe by three. Works for me?"

"Well it doesn't work for me! 90 isn't enough McGee! I want to do at least a 100."

"Abby! 10 cupcakes are not going to save the winter appeal."

"And neither will you, with that attitude McGee!" she said punching him in the arm.

Tim sighed. "Let's get on with it." They started adding the ingredients to a big bowl, multiplying by four. The bowl was so full by the time they got all the ingredients in that they could hardly stir it. Mixture was slopping over the edge and on to the floor.

"Try and pick out the little pieces of egg shell if you see any Tim." Abby said.

"Will do." Tim said trying to hook out bits of eggshell with a fork. Then he read the recipe. "Abby where are our cupcake trays?"

"What's a cup cake tray?" she said panicking.

"This thing see?" he said showing her the picture.

"I don't think we have any of those Tim. I bought cup cake paper thingies." She said.

"You're supposed to put the paper thingies in these special trays." Tim said looking worried.

"Well we're just gonna have to improvise." Abby said looking in the cabinets. "Here we go, we have cookie sheets. We'll just use these." She said happily.

Tim shrugged. "If you think it won't make a difference."

Tim started laying coloured paper cases on to the cookie sheets. Each sheet held 35 cases. He filled up one sheet and passed it to Abby to start filling with the cake batter. Abby spooned the mixture into the paper cases and was quite happy with the results. She popped the tray in to the preheated oven like the recipe said, and set the timer for twenty minutes. Then she went to fill up more cases so they'd be ready to put in when the others came out.

When the timer dinged Abby and Tim rushed excitedly over to the oven to see their finished products. Abby carefully got the tray out of the oven and set it down. They looked at each other and back at the cakes. "Aren't cup cakes supposed to be round." Tim asked.

"Yes Tim they are!" Abby said angrily. "Why are ours square?"

"I don't know Abby. Unless it has something to do with not having the proper trays."

"That's it." Abby said grabbing the car keys." You start over with some more mixture Timmy, and I'll go and buy the trays."

"Freeze!" Tim said. "That's it Abby! I'm putting my foot down. You're not driving all over town looking for cup cake trays. It's after midnight! The supermarket might not even sell them and nothing else is open."

"I am!" Abby said.

"You're not!" Tim said folding his arms to match her defiance. "There's nothing wrong with these cup cakes Abby." He said softening his tone. "Anyway, since when do you care about being conventional. I'm proud that we're the first parents to make square cup cakes. Anyone can make round ones."

Abby smiled. "You're right. We'll just decorate these to make them look nice. Sorry Timmy."

"You're forgiven." He said.

"So are you." Abby said grinning.

"Oh? And what am I forgiven for?" he said with a grin.

"Thinking you have the right to stop me from doing something that I want to do." She said.

"You don't need to forgive me for that." Tim said. "I do."

"You do what?" Abby said confused.

"Have the right." Tim said smugly.

"Oh you do?" Abby asked, hiding a smile.

"Yep. I do."Tim said.

"Sometimes." Abby said smiling.

"We'll see." Tim said.

TBC


	37. Chapter 37

Thankyou all so much for all your reviews and alerts. They really do make my day. :)

I have no idea about the driving laws in America, hell I don't know anything about the driving laws here either, so if I got that wrong, I'm put it down to fiction and the fact that I'm not perfect ;) I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 37

As Abby lifted the last batch of cupcakes out of the oven and placed then on the counter, Tim breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God! We can finally go to bed." He said yawning.

"Sorry Timmy,not yet. We can't take then to school like this, they're not finished." Tim winced.

They look just fine to me , they look perfect." Tim said hopefully.

"Your just saying that because you're tired." Abby pouted.

"I know." he said with a tired grin. "What do we have to do next?"

"Well, first we have to wait for these ones to cool, and then we have to put on the frosting and decorations." Abby said. "I'm thinking Pirates and spiderwebs for Dyl and something girly for Jess. What do you think?"

"I think we should just slap a bit of frosting on them and an M&M or something and go to bed." Tim said looking like he was about to fall down.

"Shame we don't have any more caffeine drinks. That would keep us awake. How much do you think it would cost to put a caf-pow machine in here?"

"Too much. And I think you get enough at work then you top up on Red Bull when you come home." He said as he watched her bouncing from one counter to the other inspecting her cakes. "How many cans of Red bull have you had anyway?"

"I don't know." She said honestly. "I know I'm not tired. You go to bed Timmy, I can manage this now. Thanks for your help." She said giving him a big hug and kiss.

"I was happy to help. Are you sure you can manage this now?" Tim asked looking at the rows of square cup cakes with trepidation. But Abby was already looking at another recipe for butter frosting and tossing ingredients into a bowl. Tim kissed her again and wandered off to bed.

About three hours later, Tim turned over and felt with his hand the cold spot in bed that his wife's warm body usually occupied. Don't tell me she still hasn't come to bed, he thought. I thought she was just going to slap a bit of frosting on the cakes and come to bed. He dragged himself out of bed and padded down the stairs and into the kitchen. He had to smile. Ziva was right. She never did anything by halves. Abby had her ipod plugged into her ears, and her shoes off, she danced around the kitchen with a spatula in her hand. Candy of every description was cut up all over the counter, Tim watched as Abby grabbed little pieces and placed them gently on the cakes. Dyl's cakes seemed to be finished, as in neat rows all over the kitchen table were an assortment of pirates and spider webs and sculls. They looked great! Tim couldn't help but be filled with pride at the job that his Abby had done. Even if she had stayed up all night to do it. He looked over to where she had her back to him and saw her putting the finishing touches to Jess's cup cakes. Some had butteflies, some had flowers and some had faces made out of different shaped candies.

"Hi Timmy!" Abby said brightly as she finally noticed him. "What do you think?"

"Abs, they're truly the most beautiful cup cakes I've ever seen......but aren't you tired?"

"No. Why what time is it?" she said.

"It's like 4:30 in the morning." He said.

"Guess I better try and get a little bit of sleep." She said.

"Yeh, where do you want these put? I could do that for you and then I'll come in. We can maybe get in a couple of hours sleep."

Abby plonked six containers on the counter. "In these if you don't mind Tim." She said starting to yawn.

"You go get into bed. I'll come and rub your back in a minute." Tim said kissing her neck and giving her a gentle push towards the stairs.

"Don't stack them Timmy." She said as her voice disappeared up the stairs. "They have to be in single file."

WOW!! Tim thought as he packed away the brightly decorated cakes. These look professional.

It seemed like only five minutes later when Abby heard the alarm go off in her ear. She smacked it, knocking it off the bedside table and turned over.

"Abs. Abby. I know your tired sweetie but you have to get up." Tim said gently in her ear. "Abby!"

"Wha what....what time is it?" Abby mumbled, her mouth all dry and stuck together. "Wow Tim. I feel like crap. Sorry. I should have just stayed up. A couple of hours sleep just makes you feel worse."

"I know. I'm sorry Abs but we're all gonna be late. Why don't you jump in the shower and I'll bring you up a coffee." He said, discretely taking back the comforter that Abby was trying to pull over her head. "Abby! Come on!" Tim sighed deeply. Doing what he really didn't want to have to do, he pulled back the comforter completely and picked Abby up in his arms. He stood her in front of him while turned on the shower and adjusted the temperature, and then started to remove her T-shirt and panties.

"I'm awake now McGee." She said grumpily. "But I'm not happy. I can do it myself." She said slapping away his hands.

Putting his hands up in mock surrender, he backed out of the bathroom. I hope the bake sale goes well, he thought. I certainly wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of Abby today.

They dropped Sarah off at school and then the little kids. Abby gave Dyl a note that said that she would be delivering her cakes when she arrived at One o'clock. They then went to NCIS where Abby stored her precious cup cakes in her fridge in the lab. She then attempted to get on with her work. She turned on all her babies and fired up her music. There. That was starting to feel a little better she thought. Turning around she bumped into Gibbs.

"Gibbs! You scared me!"

"He handed over her caf-pow and stood back and stared at her with his head to the side.

"What Gibbs?" she said snatching the caf-pow gratefully. "I haven't got anything for you yet Gibbs."

"I know." He said.

"Well have I done something wrong?" she asked.

"Kind of." Gibbs said crypticallly.

'Will you please just spit it out Gibbs. I'm really tired and I can't play twenty questions with you today."

"Pardon me Abby?"

Abby shook her head a little sending her pigtails swinging. "Ok. That may have come out of my mouth just a little differently than it sounded inside my head."

"UH HUH!" Gibbs said. "Abby, you need to lose the attitude. And, you can't be ringing Tim when he's at a crime scene, and expect him to talk about cupcakes, Abby."

"Gibbs! It was an emergency!" She pleaded.

"No..It...wasn't." Gibbs said. "Somebody getting sick or dying? Heaven forbid. That's an emergency. Don't EVER phone Tim at a crime scene again because Jess coloured over the bake sale note. Got it?"

"Yes Bossman."

"And while I'm at it." Abby rolled her eyes. "Tell me you didn't just roll your eyes at me."

"I didn't just roll my eyes at you Gibbs."

"Yes you did!"

"But you told me to tell you that I didn't. Anyway I didn't really. Well I did, but not at you. Well it was at you but not AT you. It was more at the fact that I did so many things that pissed you off, sorry, bothered you, yesterday."

Gibbs just stared for a minute trying to put together what she just said in his head. "Anyway what I was saying was, that you can't be angry at Tim for doing his job. It was me that shut off his cell phone yesterday, not Tim."

"Why would you do that Gibbs."

"Because you wouldn't let him get on with his job."

"Ok Gibbs. I get it." She said pouting slightly.

He kissed her on the cheek before he left. "Stop pouting Abby." He said.

As he entered the elevator she stuck her tongue out at the closed door.

Before Abby knew what had happened it was 12:45pm. If she was going to make it to the school on time she knew she had to hurry. That was all she needed. Thank God she was friends with Kim at least now. All she needed today of all days, when she was feeling so tired and out of sorts was those snobby women and the horrible office lady looking down their noses at her because she was late.

She jumped in the car and tore out of the parking garage as fast as she could, without sideswiping anyone on her way. She did slow down as she exited the actual yard, well aware that Tim or Tony or Gibbs might see her from the window. But as she pulled on to the main road she sped up again, hoping that she could get to the school hall with out being overly late. But her luck being what it was today, she soon heard the high pitched whirring of a police car behind her. Shit! She thought. Now not only am I gonna be late, but I'm gonna get a ticket. Abby pulled the car over and started hunting in her bag for her driver's license. Damn! She must have left her wallet at home. Tim was really gonna kill her now. Two tickets, one for speeding and one for driving without her if the officer was nice , he'd let her off with a warning.

Abby rolled down her window and smiled at the police officer. "Good afternoon officer. I know you're probably not going to believe this, but there's a really excellent reason why I might have been going just a tiny bit faster than the speed limit." she said brightly. "I know, you here that all the time but this time, it just happens to be true. You see it started yesterday........."

"Driver's license please Miss." He said.

"You see that's kind of part of the story.........."

"Do you have your driver's license Miss?" he asked.

"On me? Because I definitely have a driver's license, the problem is......"

"Could I see it please?" the officer said blandly.

"That's what I'm trying to explain to you officer but you keep interrupting. I do have a driver's license but......"  
"So I take it that you don't have your driver's license on you? Is that correct?"

"You're doing it again! If you'd just let me explain, this is just a misunderstanding. I need to get to my children's bake sale at their school. You're being really rude! For Christs sake, would it be so hard for you to just listen to what I have to tell you?"

"Do you have your registration details?" he said, starting to get impatient now. Abby fossicked around in the glove compartment mumbling and swearing under her breath as she looked. Thankfully she was able to come up with the paperwork. She handed it over with a sigh and a glare.

"Is this going to take long officer, because I really have somewhere else I HAVE to be?" Abby said snidely. The officer went away and sat in his car for a few minutes. Abby didn't see him shaking his head at her as he waited. Not long after he came back.

"Luckily for you, the registration checks out. Normally, I would give you a ticket for being FIFTEEN MILES over the speed limit and a warning for not having your license. But seeing as you found it necessary to be disrespectful and uncooperative, I'm going to give you a ticket for not carrying your license with you." Abby took the tickets without another word...........until he had walked well out of earshot, then Abby let loose some expletives that would make a sailor blush before she started the car back up and drove at a more reasonable speed to the school.

All eyes were on Abby as she walked into the hall carrying her containers of cakes. She tried to make her platform boots walk a bit quieter so she wouldn't attract attention, but they didn't want to listen. So all that could be heard in the silence of the hall was the clip clopping of her size 10 boots on the hardwood floor.

"What?!" she said loudly. "I know I'm late but I come bearing gifts! Doesn't that count for anything?" she said as she put her cakes on one of the tables.

A couple of the more snooty women came over to inspect them. "Very impressive." One of them said. "Did you BUY these Abby?"

"No Clarice! I Made them! Myself! The only person that helped me was my husband! We got home from work at 9:30! After having to go to the supermarket. It took until 2:00 in the morning to just bake the cakes and then.......Clarice, I decorated them until 4:30 this morning. I went to bed for a couple of hours before I got up and got ready for work again, and listen to this bit because it'll be important to the story later, I left my wallet at home.I finally after dropping three kids off, got to work, where I was very very busy because I had to have the afternoon off. Then you wanna know what happened next Clarice?" Clarice stood dumbfounded not daring to move or speak in the midst of Abby's tirade. "Next Clarice, because I was soooo busy, I was running a bit late, so I drove a little fast in an effort to get here on time, and I bet you've already guessed haven't you, I got pulled over. That's right and not only did I get a speeding ticket, but because the officer didn't like the way I spoke to him, he gave me a ticket for not having my license on me. Could've given me a warning but decided to get payback instead. So, in answer to your question Clarice? No I didn't fucking buy them."

"Mrs McGee!" Sister Mary Clarence said as she came up silently behind her. "How nice of you to go to all that trouble." Abby nearly threw up. If Tim wasn't going to kill her before, he certainly was now.

"Sister I..........I........I'm sorry. I shouldn't have sworn like that." Sister took Abby's arm and led her away from her captive audience.

"No you shouldn't. But seeing as how there are no children around yet, I'll forgive you. I've been waiting for six years to see someone shut that pompous woman up." Abby's eyes grew large with amusement. Well......you never can tell what's gonna happen she thought. Maybe Timmy won't kill her after all.

TBC


	38. Chapter 38

Thankyou all so much for your reviews and alerts. I really do appreciate them. It really does make it easier to write when I know what you're all thinking. :)

Chapter 38

"Mrs McGee." Sister said.

"My friends call me Abby." Abby said with a warm smile.

"Abby." Sister said returning her smile. "I've been meaning to tell you that it's a wonderful thing you've done befriending Mrs Broadbent. There has been such a change for the better in her and Maddie. I don't know what you've done but it seems to be working."

Abby grinned. "I haven't done anything really. Except maybe a little matchmaking."

"Ahhh....I see." Sister said. "Ok Dear. Why don't you go and set your cakes out on the tables for your children's classes."

"Thank you Sister." Abby said.

Abby went and set out Dylan's cup cakes on his class's table and stuck his name sticker on the boxes. She then went back to the table that Kim was on and set out Jess's cakes. "You sure told that damn Clarice where to get off." Kim said smiling.

Abby goggled. "You know what, it's the best I've felt all day. You'll never guess what the Sister said to me. I thought she was gonna say something to me about using 'that word'. But she actually said she forgave me." Kim's eyes were nearly came out of her head. "Because, and these were her exact words, 'she'd been waiting six years for some one to shut that pompous woman up'."

"Wow!" was all Kim could say.

Abby thought about telling Kim what the Sister had said about her and Maddie improving but she thought better of it. It just didn't feel right tell her that they thought she'd improved would be an admission that they'd all been judging her in the first place.

Abby admired Kim's cup cakes and cookies while Kim was genuinely impressed by Abby's efforts. "I hate to say this Abby but, I can see why Clarice thought these were bought cakes, they're really very good."

"Thankyou." Abby said accepting the compliment gracefully.

Kim giggled. "I'm glad you didn't come after me like you did Clarice."

"It's not what you say but how you say it." Abby said glaring in Clarice's direction.

In an hour or so, the children were let out of class and parents and friends started to filter in to the hall slowly. Jess and Dyl were really impressed with the cakes that Abby had made. So much so that Dyl had come up and actually hugged Abby in view of his friends.

Business must have been quiet because Abby looked up when Kim nudged her to see the whole NCIS crew entering the hall. Gibbs came immediately over to their stall and kissed Kim and then took Maddie by the hand around to look at the stalls.

Tim came up and did the same. He kissed Abby, gave Dyl some money as he wanted to look around with his friends, before taking Jess by the hand and going to look at the stalls. Abby whispered to Kim when she saw the stall that Tim had stopped at. "Shit!" she said. "That evil woman is talking to Tim." She said.

"Abby didn't you phone Tim and tell him about the tickets?" Kim said incredulously.

"I was going to tell him, I just haven't had the chance." She said watching the conversation that was taking place with interest. If only my damn lip reading skills were better, she thought. Oh well, she knew Tim well enough to know that if had found anything out he wouldn't make a scene here. He'd wait until they got home. Maybe she could get in first. If he didn't know, that she thought he knew, then she may be able to fix it. Tim had moved off from Clarice and her stupid snow cone stall, and was now talking to Tony and Ziva. They were looking in her direction. This was not good.

Tony and Ziva came over to her stall. "Hey Abs, we'll take some of your butterfly cakes please. And some of those brownies. The kids can have them for dessert tonight." Tony said.

"What kids?" Abby asked.

"Yours." They both said together.

"Mine? Ours?" she said sheepishly. "Tim asked you to have them?"

Ziva nodded. "What did you do Abby?" she asked.

"What makes you think I did something?" Ziva raised her eyebrows.

"I was running a bit late and I got a couple of tickets. Then when I got here that stupid woman over there implied that I bought my cakes. So I may have sworn at her."

"Two tickets at once Abby? How did you do that?" Ziva asked her friend.

"One was for speeding and the other one was for not having my license on my person." Abby said.

"Which person?" Ziva asked, she was getting really confused.

"Me Ziva. It's an expression. 'On your person' means to have it with you." Abby explained.

"Oh..... Where was it?" Ziva asked.

"At home in my wallet." Abby said.

"Now I see."

"Ziva would you mind helping out here for a minute while I go and talk to Tim?"

"Of course." Ziva said as she went behind the stall.

Spying Tim, Abby went up and grabbed him from behind. "Abs! You scared me." He said.

"Jess, could you just go over there with Uncle Tony for a little while?" she asked.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because I want to talk to Daddy." Abby said.

" 'Bout the tickets?" she asked innocently. Abby looked at Tim and grinned.

"Do as your Mommy tells you Jess." Tim said, not breaking eye contact with Abby.

"Did you shout the bad word at that lady?" Jess said pointing at Clarice.

"Jess!" Tim said sternly. "Now!!!" Jess hurried over to Tony and took his hand. Abby could tell from Jess's hand movements and Tony's slowly spreading smile that Jess had now relayed the story to her Uncle Tony.

Tim took Abby chin in his hand and turned her face towards his. "Got something that you want to tell me?"

"I'm too late aren't I? I was gonna tell you Tim, I honestly haven't had time. Now that horrible witch has been tattling and it's gonna make everything worse." Abby said pouting.

"Ok. For a start, lose the pout Abs. Dyl and Jess's friends are here, they don't need to see you pouting like a five year old." He leaned in closer. "Save that for home. Forget Clarice or what ever her name is, I wanna here from you, what happened between work and here." Abby dug in her pocket and pulled out the two tickets. Tim unfolded and then read them. "Abby! Another speeding ticket? Where was your license?"

"At home. I was in such a rush, that I left my wallet at behind."

"A ticket for that is a bit harsh. It's normally a warning."

"I KNOW! I'm so not paying that. He even said that he'd normally give just a warning. Just because he didn't like what I had to say, he gave me a ticket."

"I can well imagine what happened Abs and we will pay it. The law is the law and you broke it. So we have to pay."

"But Timmy, he was rude! He wouldn't listen to me. He kept talking over the top of me."

"Abby it doesn't matter. You were speeding. You didn't have your license in the car, they were quite within their rights to fine you."

"But." Tim held his hand up.

"No buts." He said. "Now we'll leave the rest of this discussion until we go home."

Damn Clarice! Abby thought as she went back to her stall. "So he knows?" Kim said.

"Yeh he knows. Thanks to Clarice. I wish I could think of a way to get even with her."

"Superglue in one of the brownies?" Kim said. Abby's eyes lit up. "No way Abby! I was joking. Getting a spanking is bad enough but I don't wanna get arrested."

"Spoil sport." Abby said with a smile. "Hey, Gibbs and Maddie seem to be getting along well. How's that going?"

"Oh Abby, it's going great. It was terrible at first, it was like living in a war zone. But Jethro, he's not just strict, although he is that. He can be kind and loving and gentle. He reads to Maddie every night. I think she's starting to really trust him." Kim said.

"MMMmmm." Abby said with a massive grin. "Every night you say."

Kim smiled shyly. "Well, he doesn't stay all night every night. But unless he's working, he has dinner with us, reads to Maddie stays for a while after she's asleep."

"I see!" Abby said. "And how often does he stay ALL night?"

Kim shrugged. "I don't know."

"Humour me. Hazard a guess." Abby said, the smile still plastered across her face.

"Oh alright! Three of four nights a week I guess." Kim said.

"Very good." Abby said. Another couple of parents came up to relieve Abby and Kim so they were able to leave their table and have a look around.

As they walked past the stall that Clarice was on. She smiled shrewdly at Abby and Kim.

"Abby, I don't think that handsome husband of yours was too happy with you getting those tickets. Was he? I'm sorry if I dropped you in it. I couldn't help it. It just slipped out." she said with and evil grin. Abby glared at her. She would've liked nothing better than to do something else but she didn't want any of the kids to see her. Then she had a thought. Where's Ziva?

Finally finding Ziva, she said "Do you have one of your knives with you?" she asked.

"Of course." She said. "Do I want to know what you want it for?"

"Na. I don't think you do." Abby said seriously.

"Are you going to stab someone?" Ziva asked.

"At my children's Catholic school?" Abby asked sarcastically. "No. it's not for a person." Ziva looked at her for a minute and then beckoned her over to a quiet space in the hallway. She lifted the leg of her pants and slipped the knife out from its hiding space near her ankle. "Please Abby think first about what you are thinking of doing. Don't do anything dangerous."

"I won't. Abby said. "Back in a minute." She said, knife hidden in her jacket as she went outside. She went around back to where the cars were parked and looked up and down the rows. She didn't stop until she was standing in front of Clarice's car. Bending down she took the knife out of her jacket and was about t plunge it into the tire when she felt a firm male hand grip the hand that held the knife tightly. "Drop it now!" he said.

TBC


	39. Chapter 39

Thankyou all so much for your lovely reviews. Sorry about the cliffhanger last time, it just seemed a good place to leave it. I hope that most of you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 39

Ziva watched with trepidation as Abby disappeared out the door that led to the carpark, her knife hidden in her jacket. "This is not good." She said out loud to herself.

"What's not good Ziva?" Gibbs said quietly making her jump.

"Ahhh.........um...."

"Tell me! Now!" Gibbs hissed, trying not to get too much attention. Something was obviously wrong by the look on Ziva's face.

"Abby just borrowed my knife." She answered. "I do not know what she wanted it for but she did say that she was not going to stab someone." Gibbs rolled his eyes and glared at Ziva.

"Don't move." he said as he silently crept outside to follow Abby. Fortunately, he was trained to move quickly, without being seen, so he was able to catch her up and grab her hand right before she plunged it into a tyre. "Drop it now!"

"Gibbs?" she said startled. "Where am I? How did I get here? I must have been sleep walking or something. I didn't get much sleep and..........."

"Cut the crap Abby! What the hell were you thinking?"

"Not that you were going to come out here and catch me. That's for damn sure." She said standing up and stretching. "You're not going to tell Tim are you?"

Gibbs grinned. "I would say at this moment Abby, that Tim is the least of your worries." He spun her around and bent her over the car. Lifting her skirt he smacked her backside very hard. He would have liked to have taken his belt to her and in different circumstances he certainly would have, but he would have to make this short and quick. Unfortunately for Abby, Gibbs could make six quick smacks feel like thirty six. Such was the strength he put behind them, and that's exactly what she felt she had endured as she was marched back inside.

Gibbs whispered in her ear. "I won't tell Tim but you're going to."

"I'm going to have to now!" she said. "I think he might notice that my backside has suddenly turned a shade of Gibbs red!"

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "Pardon me?"

"I'll tell him." she said with a pout.

"Better." He said shaking his head. "And what the hell were YOU thinking Ziva? You should know better than to pass out your weapons to people just because they asked to borrow them."

"It was only Abby." Ziva said in a poor attempt to defend herself.

"What's going on Boss?" Tony said noticing that neither Abby or Ziva were looking too happy.

"Something happening?" Tim said joining in as well now. "Oh God Abs, what have you done now?" Abby had her head down and as she scuffed the floor with the toe of her platform boot.

"Which one of you lady geniuses is going to tell your husbands what happened?" Gibbs said looking from Ziva to Abby.

"Sorry Abby." Ziva said guiltily. "Abby asked if she could borrow my knife and I gave it to her?" Ziva said.

"Geez Ziva, nobody would've ever guessed that you'd been trained to withstand torture! You sure didn't take long to give ME up." Abby said incredulously.

"Um....why'd you need a knife Abby?" Tim said stepping closer to her.

Tony chuckled. "This'll be good." He said "Ouch! What did I do Boss?"

"Being you, Dinozzo." Tony rubbed his head and glared at Abby and Ziva.

"I'm waiting Abby.....what did you use the knife for?" Tim asked sternly.

"Calm down Timmy, I didn't use the knife." She said.

"Tell him why Abby." Gibbs said blandly.

"Giiiibbs! Not helping!" she yelled.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow at her. "Not trying to." He said. She narrowed her eyes at him and turned to Tim.

"I may have been considering letting just a little bit of air out of someone's tyres. Somebody who has been really mean to me. Who really deserves it, who is a mega tattle tale and just plain rude and, and who even Sister Mary Clarence doesn't like."

"Oh Abby! You know what you need? Apart from the obvious. A good night's sleep. And a lot less caf-pow!" He said. "Luckily for you, Tony and Ziva are taking the kids tonight and Sarah is staying at a friend's house, so you are going to have ALL your needs taken care of."

"The whole knife thing, Gibbs already took care of that for you." She said helpfully.

"Leave me out of it Abs." Gibbs said.

"Now you wanna stay out of it." She said, very tempted to poke out her tongue.

"Abby, if you had slashed that woman's tyres, you could have been in a lot of trouble." Tim said. "Gibbs did you a favour by stopping you."

"Is there a problem out here Abby?" Sister Mary Clarence asked.

"No. Slight difference of opinion Sister. We'll sort it out when we get home, won't we Abs?" Tim said.

"Yep." She said smiling at the Sister as she took Tim's hand and led him back inside the hall. Gibbs went back as well to find Kim and the Sister followed him.

"You gave Abby your knife?" Tony asked Ziva.

"Yes Tony I did. I know now that I should not have." Tony narrowed his eyes at her.

"No you shouldn't."  
"Ok Tony." She said. We will go and see if they are nearly finished here. We could go yes?"

"Let's go to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner."Tony said.

"Fine with me. The children have been good." She said giggling. "As for Abby, she has been having a rough day."

"Oh well. That's our Abs." he said taking Ziva's hand and kissing it. "You didn't thank me though."

"For what?" she said curiously.

"Saving you from Gibbs." Tony said. "He didn't look to happy with you when I rocked up."

"I do not need to be saved from Gibbs. He would not punish me as he did Abby." She said.

"Don't be too sure of that Ziva." Gibbs said in her ear. "Be careless with one of your weapons again like that and see what happens." Ziva spun around to say something, but he was gone. Tony wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"He means it too." He said tapping her on the bottom. "I'll go and get these kids and we can rock and roll."

Tony found Dyl with Toby who was just leaving with his Mom and Dad anyway. Jess was playing with Maddie who started to cry when Tony said that Jess had to go. Kim tried to console her, but things were about to get out of control. Gibbs bent down to Maddie's level.

"Stop Maddie. Right now. If you tell me why you're crying, I might be able to help you, but if you throw a tantrum, you know the only thing you'll get is a spanking. Think. Then use your words."

Maddie sniffled but stopped crying. Looking at Gibbs she said between sniffles. "We were having fun and I don't want Jess to go. They're going to Chuck . I wanna go too. Can I go please?"

"I'll tell you what. If it's ok with your Mom and Tony and Ziva, because you've been so good this week, we could go to Chuck E. Cheese too." Gibbs looked at Kim for confirmation. Her proud smile was the only answer he needed.

"Really?!" Maddie said hugging Gibbs.

"Yep. See Maddie. Good things happen when you behave yourself."

As Tony and Ziva checked the kids seatbelts and were about to get in the front seat, Tony turned to Ziva. "Did that just happen?"

"Did what just happen?" Ziva asked.

"Gibbs being all gentle and reasonable with Maddie and the fact that he's coming to eat at Chuck E. Cheese. With us?"

"The fact that any of us are eating there is strange." She said.

"Time to go Abs." Tim said taking her hand. "You can't put it off any longer. Everything's been put away. There's no other reason for us to be here."

"I know." She said biting her bottom lip. "Are you still mad?"

"Define mad?" he said smiling.  
" Not that kind of mad, like crazy mad. That would be me. I'm sorry Timmy about the tickets and being a bit on the cranky side. And I'm sorry that I swore where Sister Mary Clarence could hear me. Even though she already forgave me for it, cause she was really glad that someone finally shut that pompous woman up. Did I tell you?"

"No. Not yet. But it's been duly noted." He said hiding a smile.

"I AM really sorry that I asked to borrow Ziva's knife, and that I was going to let some air out of Clarice's tyres."

"You were going to slash them Abby." Tim said.

"Well......I.......I was only gonna put a little hole in them and anyway Gibbs stopped me. He spanked me in the parking lot Tim, anyone could have seen. Doesn't that upset you?" she asked.

"Nope. The same anyone could have also seen you slash the tyres and then maybe called the police on you."

"Well any way he already spanked me for that." She said as if the matter was finished with.

"Again. Duly noted." Tim said shaking his head.

When he pulled the car onto the driveway he came around and opened Abby's door. "You want your spanking before dinner or after dinner?" he asked. "Kids aren't here so we can get it over with if you want."

"How very thoughtful of you McGee!" she said climbing out of the car. "I'm surprised you don't wanna spank me before dinner and then again after dinner."she said grumpily.

"Keep up the attitude Abs and I just might."

"After dinner then." She said.

"Fine. Why don't you go and relax for a while and I'll fix us something."

"What are we having?" she said.  
"No idea yet, but something healthy. You didn't eat any dinner last night, did you eat lunch today?" Tim asked.

"I don't think so. I did have some of Kim's brownies." She said.

"No wonder your out of sorts Abs you've had less than two hours sleep and you've got nothing in your system but chocolate, Red bull and Caf-pow. That's really bad." He said watching her go to the fridge. "What are you getting?"

"Not Red bull. There's none left." She said.

"Have a glass of milk or why don't I make you a milkshake?" Tim offered helpfully.

"EW Timmy!" she said, looking for her car keys.

"Where do you think you're going?" Tim said clearly getting very frustrated now.

"While you make dinner, I'll just pop to the supermarket and pick up some more drinks." She said still tossing things around looking for her keys.

"NO Abby!" Tim said forcefully. "You're in no condition to drive. You're tired, you haven't eaten anything and you're still buzzing from all the caffeine you had last night and today. Just sit down and I'll get you some water."

"Who died and left you in charge McGee! If I want to go to the supermarket and get a MILLION cans of Red bull or Caf-pow or any thing else and drink them I will." She said dangling her newly found keys in front of his face.

"No....Abby....you won't." Tim said putting down the knife and rounding on her. "It's not safe. Look at you. You're so tired that you're not even thinking straight. I know that if you WERE thinking straight, you would never risk leaving your children without a mother or me without a wife by doing something so reckless and dangerous. If you try to leave this house I will stop you."

Abby put the keys on the counter and went upstairs without another word.

"That went well." Tim said to himself. He finished cutting up the ingredients for the casserole he was making and popped it in the oven. Now or never he thought as he ascended the stairs.

He opened the bedroom door and peeked inside. No Abby. He walked in slowly and was slightly surprised that she wasn't asleep on the bed already. Noticing the bathroom door was open he walked towards it. As he got closer he could here the muffled sounds of Abby crying into a washcloth. His heart melted. "Come on Abs." he said holding out a towel for her. She just shook her head and kept on crying. Tim didn't really know what to do, so running on instinct he stripped off his clothes and got inside the bath behind her. "Hey, don't cry honey. Things aren't that bad. You got yourself in a bit of trouble but we'll work it out, we always do. Don't we?" he asked as he kissed her lightly on the shoulder. Abby nodded and leaned into his gentle touch. "Are you scared of me Abby?"

"No...." she sobbed. "I'm scared of me. I......just get mad....and then I make stupid decisions. You're right. I should think of the kids and you. But sometimes all I think about is what I want." Tim massaged her shoulders and stayed quiet; giving her the opportunity to get whatever she was worrying about off her chest. "I'm scared you're gonna give up on me Tim. That you'll just get so irritated with me that you won't even want to bother."

"Oh God Abby! As if that would ever happen. I love you." He said wrapping her tightly in his arms. "And even if you push against it, I will do whatever I have to keep you safe, even if the person I'm saving you from is yourself."

"I love you too Tim." She said her hands starting to wander in the warm water. Tim groaned as he grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips.

"Later Abs. We need to eat and take care of your punishment first." He said as he kissed her fingers. "Nice try though."

Abby grinned. "Well I'm nothing if not the Queen of distraction."

"Come on." Tim said. He hopped out of the tub and wrapped a towel around his waist and then held another out for her. She sunk into its comfortable warmth gratefully.

"Tim?" she said. "Can we just get this over with?"

"Sure." He said. "Might be good to clear the air." Tim took his wife's hand and led her to the bed.

As he sat down and went to pull her over his knee she pulled back. "Just a minute." she said. Tim watched curiously as she went over to the desk and got the ruler out of the drawer. She brought it back and held it out to him. Tim looked hesitant. "Take it Tim. I deserve it." She said.

Tim pulled his naked wife over his knee and looked at the ruler in his hand. "Na. Not the ruler Abs." he said tossing it on the bed. She was about to argue the point when she felt the sting of Tim's hard hand landing on her bare backside. It made her jump. It was soon followed by another to match. She took a deep breath and covered her eyes, trying to ride out the pain. It didn't take long however for Tim to reignite the small fire that Gibbs had lit there earlier and she was soon alternating between swiping away the tears that ran freely down her face and trying to ward off the solid blows. When she finally cried out. "Please Tim." He stopped and rubbed soothing circles on her back to calm her. When she felt that she was under control, she stood up and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Am I forgiven?" Abby said tears still in her eyes.

"You were forgiven before we even started Abs." Tim said hugging her tightly. "Do you feel better?"

"Yeh. Surprisingly, I do. Go figure. How about you?"

"Much better. Hungry now?"

"Starving."

"Good. Let's go and eat."

"Timmy?" Abby said.

"Yes Abs."

"Will you make me that milkshake now?" she asked with a grin.

"Sure." He said with a roll of his eyes.

TBC


	40. Chapter 40

I would just like to thank all the NICE people who have reviewed anonymously for the course of this story so far. Unfortunately, I ahve found it necessary to stop my anonymous reviews.I would love it if you people would sign up and review, but if you don't, I will understand. I hope you'll continue to enjoy the story anyway. I should have probably done this a while agao but I didn't want to let that person win. But my husband has made me see that she only wins if I stop the story, which is what she wants. So now we'll just forget about it and move on. Thankyou to everyone lese who review and alert. You all make my day. :)

Chapter 40

Tony and Ziva got to Chuck E, Cheese first and chose two tables next to each other. One for the four adults and one for the three kids. Tony gave Jess and Dyl some money for the games and went and sat at the table with Ziva. He actually couldn't wait to play himself, but they couldn't risk losing their tables until Gibbs and Kim got there. "Go Tony." Ziva said. "You know you want to."

"Are you sure?" Tony said.

"Yes. They'll be here in a minute." She said. "Speaking of the devils, here they come."

"Devil Zi. Speak of the devil." Tony said.

"But it isn't just one devil we were talking about. It was three." Ziva said as they neared the table.

"I'm not a devil." Maddie said.

"No you are not Maddie." Ziva said with a smile. "That would be this stupid language that I still do not understand. Hi." Ziva said as she looked from one to the other.

"Come on Maddie." Tony said. "Let's go and find the other kids." He took her hand and they walked in the direction of Jess's raised voice.

"Hey. What's going on here." Tony said looking from Jess with her hands on her hips to Dyl's smug smile.

"Nothin." Dyl said.

"Yes it is. He took my tickets!" Jess said angrily.

"Did you take her tickets Dyl?" Tony asked.

"I was just messin around. She's such a baby. A big tattling baby." Dyl said throwing the tickets at Jess's feet.

"Pick them up." Jess said.

"You pick them up."Dyl said. "Wa,wa, like a baby."

Tony cuffed Dyl lightly on the back of the head. "Pick your sister's tickets up off the floor and hand them to her Dylan." Dyl rolled his eyes. "Now!!!" Tony said. Dylan did as he was asked with a roll of his eyes. "Right. You go and sit down with Ziva for five minutes until you can learn to play nicely." He said giving him a gentle push. "Ok girls. What are we gonna play first?"

Dyl glared at Tony and went over to Ziva. "Hey Dyl." She said noticing his sad expression. "Is your arm hurting?"

"Na." Dyl said. "Tony just sent me over to get some more change. He ran out." He said.

"Are you sure Dylan?" Gibbs asked. "Because I can see Tony playing with the girls from here and they don't look like they're out of coins to me?"

Dylan put his head down.

"I spoke to you Dylan." Gibbs said quietly but firmly.

"No. I lied. Tony told me to come and sit with Ziva for five minutes because I was teasing Jess."

"Five minutes are up Dyl. You can come back now if you want." Tony said, not having heard the lat bit of Dylan's conversation with Gibbs.

"I think he has something to tell you, don't you Dyl?" Gibbs said.

"I told Ziva that you sent me over for more coins." he said.

"Really!" Tony said. "Sucks for you Dyl, because now you have to sit here for TEN minutes. Try it again and not only will you be sitting for longer, you won't be sitting comfortably. Got it?"

"Yep. Sorry Tony. Sorry Ziva." He said.

"And lay off your sister." Tony said. Ziva smiled. She loved to see this paternal side of Tony. Before long, Dyl's ten minutes were up and Gibbs sent him over to Tony.

"Do you think Abby's alright?" Kim said.

"She will be fine. McGee was just wanting her to get a decent night's sleep as much as anything else I think." Ziva said.

"He didn't want the kids gone so that he could....." Kim started.

"Tan her ass?" Gibbs asked. "I sure hope so. Abby's been looking for a damn good spanking all day."

"But she only got the tickets because she was in a hurry to get here." Kim said thoughtfully.

"What tickets?" Gibbs asked.

"Um......isn't that what you were talking about?" Kim said sheepishly.

"No! I was talking about the bad attitude she's had all day." Gibbs said. "Now what tickets?" Ziva looked on amused at the easy banter that now existed between Gibbs and Kim. It was obvious that they were spending a lot of time together.

"She got a speeding ticket and a ticket for not having her licence on her." Kim said. But I'm sure Tim is capable of taking care of it."

"I'm sure he is." Gibbs said. "Now I'm SURE he's tanning her ass." He said with a smirk.

"I feel a bit sorry for her." Ziva said. "It must be hard to do all this stuff and work at the same time."

"Oh Please Ziva! Abby and Tim do a great job of balancing work and parenthood, but there's no excuse for letting yourself get no sleep, driving dangerously and almost slashing people tyres because they look at you the wrong way. We work in law enforcement. Abby knows what's right and wrong. Sometimes she chooses to thumb her nose at that, and if she gets herself spanked for it, so be it." Gibbs said.

"Ok." Kim said changing the subject. "What kind of pizza is everyone having?" She patted Gibbs on the leg. "Jethro?"

"I don't mind. When the kids come back we'll see what everyone wants. You ladies want a drink?" Gibbs ordered the girls drinks and then went over to play games with Tony and the kids. He loved the car racing games. Tony was shocked to look over and find Gibbs in the middle of a game with Maddie sitting in his lap. They were both laughing as Gibbs pulled them from side to side on the corners, pretending they were in a real car.

"Wow!" who would have thought that little minx would bring out this fun side of Gibbs,Tony thought.

"I'm hungry." Uncle Tony, Jess said.

"Well then let's go and get some pizza." Tony said. "Hungry Dyl?"

"Starving." Dyl said happily. "Can I have a coke?"

"How about orange soda? I don't think your Mom likes you having coke." Tony said.

"Come on Tony! She's not here. Why are you bein like this?" Dylan said irritably. Gibbs raised his eyebrows.

"Like what? How am I being?" Tony asked.

"Like all bossy. You're not usually like that." Dyl said in a petulant voice.

"Well that's just because usually your Mom and Dad are with us and they're in charge. But, tonight they're not and so I'm the one in charge, Your Mom and Dad are trusting Ziva and I to look after you the same as they would. So that means no coke." Gibbs smiled.

Back at Tim and Abby's, they had finished dinner and Tim was loading the dishwasher when he noticed Abby's eye lids were drooping. He had to smile, she really did seem like she didn't need sleep at all sometimes, but take away her caffeine for a couple of hours and she suddenly went flop. "Come on." He said, let's get you into bed. He put his arm around her and they walked up the stairs together. The house seemed so quiet without the kids.

Tim pulled back the comforter and Abby climbed inside, Tim swore by the time he got around to his side of the bed, Abby was fast asleep. He pulled her back against him and wrapped his arms around her, nuzzling her neck while he breathed in the scent from her freshly washed hair. Finally he let sleep overtake his thoughts. The promised passion was long forgotten this time as they slept contentedly in each others arms, knowing that once again everything was right in their world.

TBC


	41. Chapter 41

Thankyou all for your wonderful reviews, I really appreciate them all. I'm sorry that I haven't been able to keep up everyday, I've been really busy with the holidays. Things hopefully should get back to normal soon. Thanks for sticking with me :)

Chapter 41

The rest of the night past without incident and Tony and Ziva brought the kids home next day to a much happier and well rested Mom and a relaxed Dad. Sarah came back from her friend's house and the McGee family had gone to the movies and then dinner at a local restaurant. Zac had joined them. The day had ended quietly for the kids with Abby reading 'Harry Potter' to Dyl and Tim reading 'the Little Mermaid' to Jess.

Jess had fallen asleep first so Tim came downstairs. As he wasn't wearing shoes, Sarah and Zac didn't hear him coming. He was shocked to find them making out on the sofa in the living room. Not really wanting to make a scene, he went quietly into the hall closet and pulled out a game of Scrabble and slapped it hard on the kitchen table. This had the desired effect and the two broke apart and came to see what he was up to. He spread the game out on the kitchen table. "Fancy a game?" he said hopefully. "Abs and I are going to play."

Just coming into the kitchen Abby looked at him confused. "We are?" she said.

"Yeh don't you remember?" Tim said, giving her a knowing look. She had no clue what he was going on about but that didn't matter, it was obviously important and she liked Scrabble.

"Oh....that's right. Scrabble. We said we'd play Scrabble. Playing you two?" she said.

Zac and Sarah looked at each other. "Guess so." Sarah said, taking a seat at the table. Zac took the seat on the opposite corner. Tim sat down happily, pleased that his distraction had worked. Abby sat down feeling very confused.

After the first game finished, Abby yawned. "I think I'll go to bed Tim. I'm still feeling really tired." She said.

"Ok Abs." Tim said. "You two up for another game?" Tim said to Sarah and Zac.

"Um....I think we'll just watch a movie." Sarah said supiciously.

"Oh good!." Tim said. "Zac why don't you set it up and Sarah and I'll get the drinks and the popcorn."

"We don't want any popcorn Tim." Sarah said. "Shouldn't you go to bed with Abby?"

"Abby's fine. She's tired anyway. So what are we watching?" Tim asked as he planted himself on a chair that was almost next to Zac's spot on the sofa.

"Tiiiimm! You can't possibly be meaning to just sit there through the whole movie." Sarah whined. "Go to bed!"

"You're right." Tim said. "It's late Zac, why don't we call it a night."

Zac stood up. "Of course." He said before kissing Sarah and heading to the door. "I'll see you tomorrow for lunch."

"I'm so sorry Zac." Sarah said. "You don't have to leave. Does he Tim?"she said giviing Tim a pointed look.

Tim smiled. "Yep. See you tomorrow Zac." Sarah wasn't smiling.

When Zac had disappeared out the door, Sarah turned on Tim. "What the hell was that about?" she threw at him. "You love Zac."

"Yes Sarah, I do love Zac, but I don't love to see him eating your face off and being handsy with you in the middle of the living room."

"Fine! We could always go to my room. Or out. We can just as easily make out in the car you know."

"Going to your room with a boy is not going to happen ever." Tim said. "Even Zac. At least while there is breath in my body. As for making out in the car....That's just not safe. Haven't you ever watched any of Abby's horror movies?"

"Oh Tim! Get a grip! We were just kissing. I'm not a baby anymore. I'm seventeen. I'm old enough to date and when people date they kiss." She said getting extremely frustrated. "They even touch each other....." she said enjoying making him uncomfortable. Tim stuck his fingers in his ears and didn't take them out until he was sure she stopped ribbing him.

"I'm just worried is all Sarah."

"There's nothing to worry about." Sarah said. "I love Zac. Really love Zac, like you love Abby. And he loves me too."

"I know it seems like that now but.........Alright. I'll leave it for now but promise me you won't do anything rash."

"I promise I won't make any rash decisions. That's all I'm giving you Tim."

"Fine I guess, but watch the way you speak to me."

Tim hugged Sarah and after locking up and turning off the lights he made his way up to bed. Abby was awake and watching television. "Hey." he said pulling her into a hug. "I thought you'd be asleep."

"Bit hard to sleep with you and Sarah going at it downstairs. What was all that about?"

"All what? The argument?" he said.

"Yeh the argument, and the impromptu game of Scrabble."

"That would be because I caught them playing grabass on the sofa in the living room." Abby giggled. Luckily, he didn't see her rolling her eyes in the dark.

"What exactly are we talking about here Tim? First base, second base......."she asked.

"Probably second base.I didn't have that close a look."

"Well Tim, she's seventeen. She's gonna do some stuff. I hope she doesn't have sex yet, I really do, but I don't really know what we can do about it."

"I can do something. I won't have it Abby. Not yet."

"Well good luck with policing THAT Timmy." She said. "I wonder if you'll be this protective when it's Dyl with a girl."

"Of course I will." He said indignantly. Abby smiled.

"I bet you will too." She said grinning as he got into bed.

The next day was Sunday and as usual, the family would be coming for lunch. Tim made certain that Sarah was up in time to go to mass with the rest of the family. At the last minute he decided to give Zac a call and ask him if he'd like to meet them there. Easy to get along with as usual, Zac agreed.

When they got to the church however, Sarah was less than impressed to find Zac's car parked and him leaning nonchalantly on the hood obviously waiting for them. She glared at Tim, realising that he had manipulated Zac into coming to church, probably to hear some sermon on waiting until wouldn't put it past Tim to try and organize it with the priest.

It's funny sometimes, Tim thought how you don't see someone's faults for ages and then all of a sudden it's like they have a spotlight over their head. "You know what Abs?" He said when Sarah had gotten out of the car to go over to Zac. "Zac can be downright sloppy sometimes. You think he could have dressed a bit better than that."

Abby rolled her eyes. "Tim he's just a kid. Kids don't wear suits to church anymore. Anyway I doubt if God cares. He's probably just pleased he came out of the blue like that."

"Well actually, I kind of asked him to come." Tim said.

"Why would you do that?....... Oh I see, part of the keeping Sarah chaste plan."

"Can't hurt." He said smiling.

"I'm sure. 'Cause going to church always stopped us from sleeping together." Abby said with a smirk.

"That's different. We're married." Tim said indignantly.

"We are now." Abby said smiling now. "Come on." she said. "The kids have already gone in."

At lunch everyone was there this week. Amber was feeling slightly better and could keep down small amounts of foods at some times in the day. Jimmy seemed happier than ever. His upcoming marriage and fatherhood had given him a new found confidence that he wore proudly. He even seemed to carry himself with a different air.

Dylan was happy to have old Tony back. No longer the one in charge, he could go back to being the favoured Uncle. A role that he also relished. Abby and Kim were gossiping as usual with Ziva who was happily bragging to Abby about how easily Tony had handled Dyl when he was acting out. Kim was bragging about Gibbs playing at all the games at Chuck E. Cheese with Maddie and how settled she seemed to be most of the time now. Tony and Jimmy were playing basketball as usual and Ducky was reading to the little girls.

But Tim? He was on a mission. As he watched Sarah and Zac disappear in side the house again after he'd called them out to the yard twice already to be with everyone else. That was it. He was going for the big gun.

"Gibbs as usual was manning the barbecue as Tim approached. He could tell that something was on his mind by the look on his face.

"Something I can help you with Tim ?" he said.

"It's Sarah."

"Wouldn't have anything to do with her relationship with Zac would it?" he said with a smirk.

"That's exactly it. How did you guess?" Tim said.

"I saw you watching them." Gibbs said amused. "What exactly is the problem with them?"

"I like Zac. I really do. He's a good kid. Polite, friendly, easy to get along Sarah just like a princess." Tim said.

"I can see why you have a problem with him then." Gibbs said sarcastically.

"I don't really. My problem isn't just with Zac. It's with both of them. I can't stand it when they make out all the time. I'm worried that ........Sarah's going to college next year. What if something happens to mess that up?"

"You're worried about Sarah getting pregnant?" Gibbs said, starting to feel a bit out of his depth. "I don't know what I can do about that Tim." He said.

"I don't expect you to anything exactly it's just..........how do I stop them from getting any closer?"

"I don't think that you can Tim." Gibbs said. "All you can do is make sure that they're both informed and hope that they'll use their better judgement."

"No magic wand?" Tim asked.

"Nope. Unless you're gonna handcuff her to you, you've gotta trust her Tim. I do know one thing about teenagers though Tim, the more you try to pull them away from something, the more they run towards it." Gibbs said patting Tim on the shoulder. "Get Abby to talk to her again."

Tim nodded and smiled. He didn't bother to chase them out of the house again. But the interesting thing was that when lunch was ready they came out on their own. Gibbs looked at Tim and smirked.

TBC


	42. Chapter 42

I Don't know if everyone caught the last one yet, there wasn't many reviews. I know it's a busy time so I thought I'd post this one anyway. Thanks to those who did review and those who will when they've read it. I appreciate each and every one of you :)

Chapter 42

Abby wrapped her arms around Tim from behind. "Everything's gonna be ok you know. What's the worst thing that can happen?" Seeing the look on his face she decided to change tack. "Ok. There's that. But that can happen with any boy Tim, at least if it did happen, and I'm not saying that I want it to or that it's even probable, at least it's with a decent boy. I mean, the biggest worry would be a baby right? Not a life threatening disease. You know what? Go and play basketball with Tony and Jimmy and forget about it for a while. When the time's right, I'll talk to her again about contraception. "

He turned and kissed her. "Have I told you lately that I love you?" he said.

"Yep." She said smiling. "Never get tired of hearing it though. I love you too."

The ladies were sitting talking when Gibbs and Ducky came over to join them. "So she's still going to go in it then?" Abby asked. "Jess would love to go in a pageant with Maddie."

"Well Maddie's got her heart set on it. She absolutely loved it last time. I think it's all the dressing up and........."

"The hooker make up and the getting to act like a shrunken down adult with an attitude." Gibbs added in.

Kim narrowed her eyes at Gibbs. "Not up for discussion Jethro. I already told her she could. She did it last year, she wouldn't understand why she couldn't do it again. You know that." Gibbs shrugged his shoulders and smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Well if we get a return of the old behaviour? Don't say you weren't warned." He said. Kim rolled her eyes.

"You're making too much of this. It's just a bit of fun." Kim said.

"I was in pageants when I was little." Amber said trying to relieve the awkwardness that was settling around the table.

"Really?" Abby said. "Did you win?"

"Sometimes. It can be pretty cutthroat. But I survived. More than survived really. It gave me confidence and taught me how to win AND LOSE graciously. And, I'm not even a hooker." she said mockingly to Gibbs.

"Didn't say they turned out to be hookers. I SAID they wear hooker make up and they do." he retorted unapologetically. Kim rolled her eyes.

"Jethro, what is your obsession with hookers? It's not like that."Kim said rolling her eyes.

"Sure it isn't. It's fake. All of it's fake." Gibbs said. The others were all listening in fascination to the conversation. Especially the fact that Kim had definitely come out of her shell where Gibbs was concerned and wasn't afraid to push him.

"It is not! It is actually Maddie singing and Maddie dancing. She's not lip syncing. It's all her. And It's not all about looks." Kim said indignantly.

"So, say for instance, it's the three days before the contest, and Maddie loses one of her front teeth. That would be acceptable? You would enter her anyway, with a tooth missing in the front?" Gibbs said smiling. He was smiling because he already knew the answer.

Kim said nothing. Gibbs smiled even bigger.

"Sorry Kim I didn't hear you. Would that be ok? Or, would we be running out to get a false tooth to keep up the ever so important appearances?" Gibb said."Can't children with missing teeth dance so well?"

"You can't understand. You're a man. Anyway, it would affect her singing to have a gap in her teeth. How could she sing Amazing Grace with a lisp?" Kim said in all seriousness.

Gibbs actually chuckled at that. "You would seriously dress Maddie up in a fluffy looking dress with a hair piece and full make up AND a false tooth and stand her up there to sing AMAZING GRACE? Would you do that to Jess Abby?" Abby put her hands up in mock surrender but swung around when Tim entered the conversation.

"Never happening. Jess is never going to enter one of those contests." He said. "I wouldn't allow it."

"What if I wanted her to?" Abby asked narrowing her eyes dangerously at her husband.

"The answer would be no. End of story." Tim said bravely.

"End of story?" Abby said disbelievingly. "Without even a discussion?"

"Abby you don't believe in pageants anymore than I do." He said.

"Pageants are not that bad." Amber said trying to smooth things over. "Girls and boys can make friends, they can win prizes. It gives them confidence."

"You really don't think that they're harmful?" Abby said.

'I really don't." Amber said.

"Not happening Abs. Are you listening?" Tim said.

"See Jethro, Amber thinks they're fine." Kim said.

Abby got up to make coffee and get the dessert. She narrowed her eyes and glared at Tim as she passed him but stopped short of actually poking her tongue out which is what she felt like doing.

Abby was bending over the fridge getting out the dessert. She didn't hear the girls come up behind her.

"Mommy, Maddie's got a new dress for her pageant." Jess said. Maddie was nodding next to her.

"And new shoes and a hair piece." Maddie said helpfully. Abby smiled at her.

"That's good Maddie." Abby said.

"Why is it good for Maddie, and I can't go in the pageant?" Jess asked. "She's gonna sing and dance and everyone is gonna clap and cheer and she might even win a prize." Abby really didn't know how to handle this. How the hell do you tell your child they can't do something in front of their friend who is going to do that thing, when you just told that friend that what they were doing was good. So she resorted to the easy option for now.

"We'll see Jess. Ok? But don't nag Daddy about it." She said.

Amber came in to help Abby and heard the tail end of the conversation with Jess, and saw the child happily skipping outside. "You know she thinks she's in with a chance. Don't you?"

"Yeh. Handled that really badly didn't I? .......I didn't know what to say to her in front of Maddie without insulting the child. You know, I never wanted to be one of those mothers that said 'because I said so' without an explanation. 'We'll see' is just as bad."

"What are you gonna do?" Amber asked as she packed up cups and plates to take outside.

Abby grinned. "Play it by ear, I guess, like always." Amber sighed. This would not end well for Abby she thought. Like always.

The girls ate their dessert and then went upstairs to play pageant. Jess watched carefully as Maddie demonstrated the walk, the smile and the patented wiggle of the hips. She then did her rendition of Amazing Grace which had Jess totally awed.

"If your Mommy lets you do the pageant what are you gonna sing?" Maddie asked.

"I don't know." Jess said. "What do you think?"

"I sawed someone sing girls just wanna have fun." She then demonstrated how that song went, with the actions. Jess giggled.

"I like that one." She said. "It's fun."

"Do you think she's gonna let you do it?" Maddie asked.

"I hope so. She said 'I'll see.' That's better than no isn't it?"Jess said.

"I think so. Let's practice walking just in case." Maddies said mincing up and down the room like she had dislocated hips. Jess copied.

"Ya gotta smile all the time like this......." she demonstrated with an eerily fake smile that didn't meet her eyes. Jess tried but was a bit confused about how this was supposed to look pretty.

"It looks better when you have on your good hair and your new eyelashes." Maddie said. Jess fingered her long blonde curls.

"Why do I need to have new hair?" she asked curiously.

"'Cause it stands all up in the top and it doesn't move when you dance. Same with the eyelashes. Sort of helps to keep your eyes open."

"Oh...." Jess said pretending to understand. "I hope I can do it.I can't wait to wear all that stuff."

"Let's practice." Maddie said as she showed Jess the moves to go with 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun'. Lot's of hip and finger shaking and suggestive winking was involved that Tim would definitely not have approved of judging on his performance of late with Sarah, he would probably have had a stroke. Jess didn't realise there was anything wrong with what she was doing. She just thought she was singing and dancing.

Downstairs the adults were all oblivious to the pageant practices that were going on upstairs. Abby had no idea that Jess was falling more in love with the thought of being a pageant princess that she'd ever imagined. So much so, that the 'we'll see' that Abby had given her was steadily growing into a definite 'yes' in her mind. Abby also had no idea of the choice she was soon going to have to make about whether to totally piss off Tim by going behind his back,again, or breaking her little girls heart. A heartbreak that she had set her up for, by not just saying no in the first place. She had given a six year old false hope, and that was unforgivable in her mind.

When Tim was out of earshot, Kim leant in towards Abby, "So, Maddie tells me you're thinking about whether Jess can go in the pageant or what she actually said that you said was 'we'll see'. You do know what that means to a six year old, don't you?"

"Oh I know. Oh God! What have I done." Abby said. "There's no way Tim will ever agree to let Jess go in a pageant. He's dead set against them. Sorry."

"Don't be sorry. It's nothing that I haven't heard before, usually by people who have never had anything to do with pageants before. They don't understand that they're harmless." Kim said. "So what are you gonna do?"

"I've absolutely no idea. Even if Tim agreed, which he won't, I wouldn't know where to start to even buy the stuff that was needed." Abby said, her mind starting to tick by itself even though she didn't want it to go there.

"Oh that's where I can help you. Let me do this for you Abby. You've been such a good friend to me. Let me register her and get all the stuff you need and then if you change your mind at the last minute, no one need know. Nothing will be in your name and Tim will be none the wiser." Kim said excitedly. "We could even say we're taking the girls away for a bonding weekend. Tim would never even have to know."

"I have to say it sounds like fun." Amber said. She still remembered the thrill of their hidden trip to the cabin when they'd gone camping.

Abby looked at Ziva who shrugged. "Your ass Abby. Will it be worth it?"

Abby heard Tim's words in her head. 'The answer would be no. End of story.' "It just might." Abby said allowing a small amount of defiance to colour her decision. "But we can't tell Jess until the last moment. I can't get her to lie to Tim." She said, showing at least a little bit of conscience.

"Are you two gonna come? We could take Sarah and stay in a hotel and make a real girls weekend of it." Kim said."Then you wouldn't be lying. It really would be a girls weekend."

"I'm in." Sarah said. "And I'll help get the girls ready to with some extra practices if you like. I'll just pretend it's a game and Jess won't even know what's going on."

"Oh why not." Ziva said, although she had a serious 'Gibbs gut' feeling about this. That wasn't at all unusual whenever the girls had plans, especially anything that involved Abby and Kim. Those two were trouble together. Still, Ziva had never had the chance to do these 'girly' things, and she was kind of enjoying reliving her childhood to a degree, through these little girls. Not to mention that she was really curious about these pageants. But what would she tell Tony. She didn't want to lie but to tell the truth would be like telling the truth to Tim because Tony would tell him straight . She did not know.

TBC


	43. Chapter 43

Ok, thanks to Jiva-Tiva lover who pointed out that Gibbs was probably going to be there for Maddie. Hadn't thought of that. So I had to fix it, which has probably got Kim in even more trouble ;) Oh well.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed and left alerts. I really appreciate it. I know this is a busy time for everyone. Hope your all enjoying what ever breaks you have at the moment depending on where you are. In Australia, we are in the middle of the Autumn holidays. Still aweek and a half to go, God help me. Hope you enjoy the next chapter :)

Chapter 43

"There's just one flaw in this plan." Abby said. "Won't Gibbs be coming to watch Maddie? He would tell on us in a heartbeat."

"Yes there is that." Kim said thinking. "Of course, he really doesn't want Maddie to do the pageant anyway, I'll just have to tell him that he won. I've changed my mind. Then when the coast is clear and he's forgotten all about it, we'll plan our weekend away."

"That could work." Abby said thoughtfully.

"That is also even more lying Abby. You are going to get into trouble." Ziva said in a warning tone. "You are not worried?"

"Not really. I'm used to it. Sometimes you just have to weigh things up and stand up. Tim threw down the gauntlet when he said that he had made a final decision before we even talked about it. Are you worried Ziva?" Abby asked with a grin.

"Of course not. Tony is easily distracted." She said with a smug smile.

"Oh well. You go with that Ziva if it makes you feel safe." Abby said gently teasing her friend. "What about the two of you. Well you really Amber,you scared of what Jimmy might do? I know your gonna get your ass busted Kim. It's a given." Looking nervously over at Jethro she giggled.

"Yep. Pretty safe assumption there." Kim said. "Amber? Are you scared that Jimmy will spank you?"

"Um.............I doubt it. I am pregnant after all. He's never done it before. He's threatened, but I don't think he'd really follow through."

"First time for everything Amber." Abby said with a grin. "It's not that bad. Sometimes it's worth it."

"What's not that bad?" Tim asked as he plonked him self in the chair next to Abby.

"Girl talk Timmy. Don't be nosy." Abby said putting her hand on his knee. She tried to smile naturally but didn't look him in the eye. Thankfully, Tim didn't seem to notice, he just put it down to her being distracted by her friends.

They managed to get through the rest of Sunday with out the guys finding anything out. Abby and Kim took Jess's measurements and Abby gave Kim a pair of Jess's shoes to use as a size guide. They agreed that the hair piece that Kim was going to buy should be blonde the same as Jess's natural hair.

Practices were planned and taken care of by Kim and Amber, leaving Abby out of it alot, therefore giving her less to lie to Tim about. Now that Maddie was better behaved, Tim didn't mind Jess going over to Maddie's for play dates so that was easily covered. Before they knew it a couple of weeks had gone over and it was nearly time.

Early in the week preceding the pageant, Kim called in to the lab for lunch to show Abby some outfits that she had chosen for Jess. Abby had to hide a smile. The formal dress seemed hideous to her, but she had no doubt that Jess would love it. It was pink tulle with layers and layers of ruffling that would stand out from her body. Abby could not believe the intricate beading and rhinestones that had been woven in to floral designs. Kim had put a lot of work into this. And not a scull or a cross bone in sight Abby thought with a smile. "It's beautiful." Abby said. "She's gonna love it."

"That's not all." Kim said excitedly. She ran and hid the dress back in the bag and came back with the next outfit, checking to make sure Tim wasn't coming.

"Oh My God!" Abby said before she could stop the words escaping her mouth. "That is the most elaborate swimming costume I think I've ever seen." She said as she fingered the two piece costume that was positively dripping with flowers and sequins. Again it was pink. Jess's colour apparently. The one that matched her face. Luckily Kim was on a totally different wave length to Abby so she wasn't offended. "I know! Isn't it to die for!" she said enthusiastically. Abby giggled.

"It sure is." She said. Never a truer word spoken. If Tim EVER caught sight of Jess in this get up someone would be dying alright.

"There's more!" Kim said getting more wound up now. I'll just put this away and I'll show you her western wear. Kim once again disappeared into Abby's office.

"Good God!" Abby said out loud to herself. "What have I let myself in for."

"Let yourself in for what?" Amber said coming into the lab with a grin.

"The costumes!" Abby mouthed.

"All part of the fun Abs!." she said. "It's just playing dress ups, that's all. Oh Kim! That is a beautiful western outfit."

Abby's eyes nearly came out of the sockets. "I was thinking that western would be more denim." She said.

"Oh no! Pink's HER colour." Kim explained for the hundredth time that day. Abby smiled. Well at least it appeared to be a bit darker shade of pink this time. But it was definitely nothing that you could ever wear on a horse. This outfit had layers and layers of tasselling. Tasselling on the dress and on the boots, which were the same shade of pink as the dress. The whole outfit was topped off with a pink cowboy hat. There also seemed to be some kind of wrist band things that had more tassles. Abby sat down in her chair and just waited for the rest. Nothing else could shock her now she was sure.

As that outfit was put away and another brought out, Abby knew it was going to be a doozy because Kim had it hidden behind her back for dramatic effect. When Kim produced the next outfit, Abby really did smile. The outfit was for casual wear and it looked like something Abby might wear herself. Except that it was glitzed up of course. Jess would look like a little goth in this outfit with its little black and pink checked skirt and 'hello kitty' tshirt. Long white ankle socks and black platform Mary janes finished off the outfit.

"Thanks Kim." She said.

"You're welcome. Only a couple more to go." It didn't take long for Kim to reappear carrying the sportswear outfit.

"Oh Kim! That is just adorable!" Amber said touching the fabric in awe. Did you do all this beading yourself?"

"Yes. Do you like it Abby?"

"Like doesn't begin to describe it Kim. I'm..........amazed at the amount of work you've put in." she said as she examined the outfit closely. It appeared to be a sort of cheerleading outfit. Not really dissimilar to the one she wears sometimes for Timmy. That probably should have been an alarm bell. Although, Abby's outfit was definitely not pink. And she didn't have matching trainers that had pink sparkles and light up soles. Or the little lacy white socks with the diamantes sewn onto them. But the short skirt with the flared skirt and the matching top couldn't be too revealing at least, you'd be lucky to even see Jess at all underneath all those rhinestones. Well at least I know what to get Kim for Christmas she thought. A vintage bedazzler.

A short time later Kim appeared with the last outfit. The crowning dress. This was, you guessed it, pink with little pink butterflies and flowers. It didn't appear to be tulle this time. It was slightly more sedate. As sedate as a dress can be that's alight with gemstones and pink fowers. It appeared to mostly be some kind of satin. Waisted with a lower skirt of more satin, oh but Abby had missed it. THERE was the tulle. Hidden underneath the skirt, there was layer upon layer upon layer of tulle petticoats holding up the satin skirt. It was horrible. But Abby didn't have trouble finding a compliment because what she said came from the heart. "Jess is going to be absolutely in love with all this stuff. I don't know how I can ever repay you." She said.

"Oh Abby it has been my pleasure. That hardest thing has been to keep all this stuff hidden from Jethro. Luckily I have a closet in the spare room and he doesn't ever go in there."

"How did he take it when you told him you'd changed your mind?" Amber said.

"Great! I think he's just pleased not to have to hear about it anymore. The only really bad thing is that I had to tell Maddie that if she wanted Jess to go in the pageant, she couldn't say anything to Jethro or anyone, even Jess herself." She really wants Jess to go, so she hasn't said anything.

"Oh I feel terrible Kim. That's really not the right thing to do. Gibbs is gonna spank the daylights out of you when he finds out."Abby said sadly.

"I know. But it'll be worth it. This will probably be the only time we'll be able to do this so we may as well enjoy it. We'll worry about the consequences later. Deal?"

"Deal." Abby said and then looked at Amber. "What about you?"

"Oh I don't have anything to worry about." She said. Kim and Abby looked at each other and smiled.

"We'll see." They said together.

"So there's just her hair piece and false eye lashes and we can just use Maddie's make up on her. I made a game yesterday when she was over and got her to try on the shoes and they all fit so that's about it. We should be set by Friday. You told Tim or Jimmy?"

"No I'm going to do it toniight." Abby said. Thankfully Kim had put all the outfits away because Tim just stepped off the elevator.

"Tell me what?" He said suspiciously.

"Oh good I can tell you now. All the girls are having a bonding weekend in Virginia, this weekend. We're gonna take the little girls and Sarah too." Abby said at a million miles an hour.

"Don't worry Tim." Amber said. Can't get into too much trouble with me along. I can't even drink and we'll have the little girls with us." Tim looked sceptically from one to the other of them.

"What's brought this on?" he said.

"Oh nothing. I just gave in to Jethro and decided not to put Maddie in the pageant, so we thought we'd all go away to make it up to the kids." She said straight faced. "You know, show them a good time."

"Oh ok. What's there to do in Virginia Abby?" He asked looking Abby directly in the face.

"Lots of stuff. A beach, amusement parks. Mini golf." Abby tried to pluck things out of her memory of Virginian interests.

"All of those things are outside Abby. You hate the outdoors." Tim said.

"Are you saying McGee, that I don't love my daughter enough to play outside games once in a while?" Abby said with her hands planted firmly on her hips.

"Of course not Abs, I was just curious is all." Here's the evidence anyway. I better get upstairs. Abby signed the chain of evidence form and pecked Timmy on the cheek as an after thought. She didn't want him to be upset with her. He smiled and kissed her cheek before disappearing into the elevator and going back upstairs.

"Wow! You two are good." Amber said.

"You think he bought it?" Abby said. "I didn't mean to turn mean on him, but sometimes that's the only way to throw him off the scent."

"Anyway? Our accomodations are booked and we'll meet at the McGee's on Friday night and drive down there. Do you think the girls are ready Amber?" Kim said.

"Yeh. Maddie already knew exactly what she was doing and Jess is a natural."

"Great. Jimmy hasn't seen you practicing with them has he?" Abby asked.

"Na. He's been studying at the Library. I told him it would be better because the girls are too noisy. He seemed to buy it." Amber said.

"We better get Ziva down here to let her know what's happening before Tony starts asking her questions." Abby said as she dialled Ziva's number. "Hey Zi!" She said. "Got a minute to pop down and we'll tell you what's happening about Friday? She'll be down n a sec."

When Ziva came down, they quickly filled her in on what was happening and Kim took her into Abby's office to show her Jess's outfits and dresses. Then Amber and Kim packed everything up and headed off. Ziva was still in the lab with Abby. "Abby, are you sure we are doing the right thing? Some of those outfits are........."she started with a grimace.

"Hideous?" Abby filled in for her. "I know. But she's gone to so much trouble. A lot of those beads and everything have been sewn on by hand. And besides, Jess is gonna be over the moon happy. This is like her dream to enter one of these pageants. I just want to make my little girl happy."

Ziva studied her for a moment before she spoke, hoping that she'd found the right words. "Abby, is that the only reason? I know you want to make Jess happy but, I saw the look on your face when McGee told you definitely no. You were......."

"Pissed? Yeh I was. And I guess that's a small part of this. But a really small part. Honest." Abby said.

"If Tim ever saw Jess dressed in some of those outfits, he would not be happy." Ziva said.

"That is an understatement. If Tim ever sees Jess in any of those outfits, but particularly the swimwear one? I don't even want to imagine." Abby said.

"Still think it's going to be worth it?" Ziva asked with a smirk.

"Well for one thing, at least I won't be dying alone. And anyway,..........he and Gibbs and Tony and Jimmy won't find out. We've planned this too well." She said with a massive smile.

"What about Sarah?" Ziva said.

"Yeh that could be the one flaw in the plan. I thought she might tell Zac, so I'm going to tell her at the last possible moment. If worse comes to worse I'll have to bribe her."

"With what?" Ziva asked. "You are making this worse for youself Abby and me. Tony does not like lying. It is the only thing that really bothers him."

"It's only in an emergency, Ziva." Abby said. "You worry too much. When have I ever really got you in trouble?" Ziva rolled her eyes.

"But you love me right?" Abby asked.

Ziva smiled. "I would not put myself in this position if I did not."

TBC


	44. Chapter 44

Thank you for all your review and alerts I really appreciate them all. It helps me to write when I know what you're thinking. :)

Thankyou to Gibbsfan who helped with some ideas with this chapter. :)

Chapter 44

As Ziva returned to the bullpen, she realised the cat was already out of the bag. "Tim thinks that you're going away for the weekend Zi, with Abs and the girls." Tony said. "To Virginia."

"I am. We are having a girls bonding weekend." she said sitting at her computer. Tim was watching her reactions with great curiosity.

"What're you gonna do there?" Tony asked.

"Bond Tony. That is what you do on a bonding ." She answered.

"When was this decided?" Tony asked. At first he was just curious, but he was starting to get a feeling in his gut. It must have been catching because Gibbs and Tim had the same feeling. Gibbs caught Tony's eye and his miniscule shake of the head told him to leave it. For now. Something was going on, definitely, but it shouldn't be too hard to find out what, they were trained investigators after all.

Gibbs sent Ziva on an errand down to autopsy and as soon as the elevator doors shut, he rang Ducky. "Duck, I need you to keep Ziva busy down there for about an hour or so and send up Palmer will you?"

"Of course, Jethro. Here she is now. He quickly scribbled a note to Jimmy so he wouldn't have to say in front of Ziva what Gibbs had said. After reading the note, Jimmy hot footed it upstairs, leaving Ducky to find something to keep Ziva busy.

"Jimmy." Gibbs said. "Amber been acting strange?"

"No. I don't think so. Should she be?" he said."Strange in what way?"

"Well, has she said anything about going away this weekend?" Tony asked.

"No. Where's she going?" Jimmy said sounding confused. "She didn't say anything to me."

"Virginia." Tim answered.

"Oh, I don't think Amber's going. She would have told me." Jimmy said emphatically. Just then his cell phone dinged with an incoming message.

Opening the message, he looked up with his glasses on the end of his nose. "It's from Amber. She's going away this weekend with the girls, to Virginia. I don't get it. What's brought this on?" he said.

"The story I got was that Kim had given in to Gibbs and taken Maddie out of the pageant and Jess had wanted to go in it too, so they were taking them away to have a good time to make up for it." Tim said. Gibbs smirked.

"I smell a rat." Gibbs said. "Tim, check out all Abby's and your credit cards and bank accounts. See if she's charged anything to do with accommodation or anything to do with pageants that are on this weekend in Virginia."

"On it Boss." Tim said, typing away at his computer.

"Tony. Check out Zivas and your credit as well. And you Jimmy. You can use Ziva's computer."

One by one they all came up empty. "Nothing Boss." Tim said.

"Me either Boss." Tony said.

"Same." Jimmy joined in.

"You know what? Forget it for now. Tim we'll get Duck to mind Dyl, and on Friday boys, we're gonna follow them and find out exactly what they're up to. Don't let on that we suspect them of anything and they won't know what's hit them when we catch them. Literally." They all chuckled. This was gonna be so much fun. "In the meantime, keep your eyes and ears open."

That night at dinner, Maddie was not in her 'new and improved' mood. Kim had a bad feeling about this. Maddie must be overly tired from all the last minute practices. There was a very real possibility that she might let something slip.

"Something wrong Maddie?" Gibbs asked.

"No." she said scraping her fork on her plate with out actually spearing any food.

"Stop doing that Maddie, That noise is irritating." Kim said.

"Oh well Maddie, a little birdie told me that you and your Mom are going away for the weekend with all the girls. Jess and Abby, Sarah, Amber, Ziva and your Mommy." He said looking at Kim pointedly. "That should be fun." Maddie looked at her Mommy.

"Oh yeh, I forgot to mention that. Completely slipped my mind." Kim said sheepishly. "That'll be fun won't it Maddie? Having fun with the girls even though you're not doing the pageant." She said as a reminder to not say anything.

"Guess so. Not as much as THE PAGEANT." she said loudly to Gibbs. Kim started to sweat.

"Ok that's enough now Maddie, you're being rude. Eat your dinner." Gibbs said

"Don't want it. I'm not hungry." She said narrowing her eyes at Gibbs.

"Then you may leave the table, but there won't be any dessert."

"FINE!" she said getting up and throwing her napkin on the table. She was nearly about to walk away when she turned and poked her tongue out at Gibbs. "You're not the boss of me." Gibbs grabbed her without leaving his seat and landed a few short sharp smacks to her bottom.

"Upstairs!" he said. She ran.

When he was sure that Maddie was out of earshot, he turned to Kim. "What was all that about? I don't believe I said that you should pull her out of the pageant did I? Is she blaming me?"

Kim shuffled her feet under the table. "I know, but I knew you didn't approve. We've been through this Jethro. Let's not go over it again."

"I thought we had, but things are just not adding up. Why didn't you tell me you were going away for the weekend?" The fact that she didn't answer and that she was visibly squirming didn't escape his notice. "I think we need to clear something up between us. I'm going to give you a chance, one chance to tell me the truth. If you lie to me, you're choosing your own fate."  
"What do you mean? You wouldn't want to be with me anymore?" she said panicking.

"I'm not saying that. But I won't be lied to Kim. If I find out that you have lied, I will spank you so hard that what you've felt so far will feel like a few love taps. AND I'll use my belt. Are we clear on that?" Kim gulped.

"Yes." She said quietly.

"Now, anything you want to tell me?" he asked.

Wild thoughts flashed through Kim's mind. They say when you're about to die your life flashes before you, that's what it felt like, except that it wasn't her whole life, just this episode with the damn pageant. She would have liked nothing better than to fall into Jethro's arms and tell him the truth, beg his forgiveness for trying to deceive him but it wasn't just her. She would be making the decision for all the others who had also lied. Abby had been the only real friend she had had in years and through her she met Ziva and Amber. All of them would be in trouble if she told the truth. Neither Maddie or Jess would get to go in the pageant. She looked over at Gibbs. Please forgive me, she thought.

"No Jethro.I'm sorry, but there's nothing that I can tell you." She said.

Oh you will be sorry he thought. Let the games begin.

There was a similar conversation going on at the McGee dinner table. Jess was also tired and cranky. Dyl poked her once too often and she slapped him hard on the arm. "Hey!" Tim yelled. "Cut it out. Both of you. Why aren't you eating Jess?"

"I'm tired." She said. "I'm not hungry."

"Wanna go to bed Jess? Come on I'll take you." Abby said, keen to get her out of there. A fact that didn't go unnoticed by Tim. Still it would give him the opportunity to talk to Sarah.

"So Sarah, what are you doing this weekend?" he asked.

"Probably just hanging out with Zac." She said. "Why?"

"Just wondering." MMmmmm he thought. She's not lying. She obviously doesn't know anything about it yet.

Tony and Ziva were having dinner as well. "You're not lying about this weekend are you Ziva?" Tony asked.

"Why would I be lying. What would I possibly have to gain?" she said.

"Don't know." Tony said seriously. "But I know what you'll gain if I find out you are lying. Get my drift?"

"Yes Tony. You have made your point." Ziva said concentrating on her dinner. I'm going to kill Abby, she thought. And Kim and Amber.

Amber was under her own scrutiny. "I don't understand why you're just telling me this week." Jimmy said, trying to make eye contact with his girl, who also found her dinner very interesting. Even if she was doing more pushing around the plate than actually eating.

"I forgot to mention it is all Jimmy. Don't make a big deal of it." She said snippily.

"I didn't know that I was. I was just asking you a simple question." He said. "Will you look at me please Amber?" Amber slowly raised her eyes. "Are you hiding something from me?"

"It's just a weekend away Jimmy. You'll survive." She said.

"You didn't answer my question. Are you hiding something from me?" he said quietly persistant. Amber looked back at her plate. "Is Abby up to something she shouldn't be?" Damn, she thought. Not the direct questioning.

"I don't understand what you mean." She said. Amber was hedging and they both knew it.

"I'm going to ask you a direct question now and if I find out you've flat out lied to me Amber there's gonna be trouble, so think about your answer. "Why have Maddie and Jess been coming here so often after school?"

Shit! Amber thought. What was she supposed to do, she couldn't betray her friends. And she couldn't let down those little girls. They'd put in so much work these last couple of weeks, it wouldn't be fair to rip that away and she had no doubt that's exactly what would happen. "They've just been singing and dancing and playing around." She said. There you go, that's not really a lie is it? She thought.

"Ok." Jimmy said. Your choice Amber, he thought, although he really did want to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Friday morning came and Abby went to wake up Sarah. "Sarah honey. Before you go to school, I want you to pack a bag. We're all going on a girls bonding weekend, to Virginia. This afternoon."

"What? How come? Why do I have to go?" she said, half asleep.

"Because it's gonna be fun. Remember the cabin? When we went camping?" Abby said.

"I remember Abs. Tim tore a strip off my ass if I remember rightly." She said sarcastically.

"Come on please? I want you to come." Abby pleaded.

"Ok." She said. "But it better not be lame. And you better not be getting me in trouble."

"I promise. If there's any trouble? You won't be involved. This was my idea not yours. Ok?"

"I guess." Sarah said, not entirely convinced.

That afternoon came quickly and Jess was over the moon when Abby told her about their trip. Dylan said goodbye to Abby and Sarah and Jess, not realising that he was about to be shipped off to Ducky's, with the dogs. Tim knew he wouldn't mind though, he loved it at Ducky's.

Once the girls were well on there way, Abby decided to let Jess in on their secret. "Ok, The reason we're going away, is that you two are going in a pageant." Abby said. Jess and Maddie squealed with delight from the back seat of the MCGee's seven seater van. Maddie was extremely relieved to finally be able to let out the secret.

"Oh My God! Are you nuts Abby?" Sarah said "Tim is gonna kill you." She hissed so the girls couldn't hear.

"Don't worry about Tim, leave him to me. You won't be in any trouble I promise." Abby said.

"I better not be Abs. I had nothing to do with this. I was practically taken hostage." Sarah said folding her arms.

"Come on Sar, it'll be fun." Amber said. "Wait until you see their outfits. They are beyond adorable. I know. Why don't you girls practice singing your solo's while we're driving along. Maddie you first."

Maddie sat up straight and went into her version of Amazing Grace. Sarah and Abby looked at each other, she was actually pretty good. Next was Jess's turn. She looked around at everyone shyly.

"Come on Jess." Amber said. "If you wanna go in a pageant, you can't be shy. There'll be a lot more people there than this."

Jess sat up straight the same as Maddie had done and then broke into 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun'. When she winked at Abby, it was all her Mommy could do not to fall off the seat. As her rousing number drew to a close, they all clapped loudly.

The women were having so much fun, that they didn't notice the dark car that was trailing them a few cars behind. Tony and Jimmy had been following them since they left Abby's house. The plan was for Tim and Gibbs to catch up once they had dropped off Dylan and the right at the wrong time, Jimmy had dropped his coffee, spilling some on Tony's leg. By the time they looked up, the girls were gone.

The girls checked into their hotel and went up to the two adjoining rooms that they had booked. They wasted no time in getting the little girls settled into bed. They had eaten McDonalds in the car on the way down. Jess and Maddie really needed a good nights sleep as tomorrow was a big day. They were booked to have their spray tans done at eight thirty in the morning. None of them could afford to sleep in.

Once the girls were in bed, they other ladies treated themselves to a glass of wine. All except Amber, who was pregnant, and Sarah who was underage. The wine had left Abby and Kim kind of melancholy and their conversation reflected their moods.

"How pissed do you think Jethro is gonna be Abby?" Kim asked who was starting to feel a bit guilty.

"Pretty pissed. But if it's one thing about Gibbs. He doesn't hold a grudge, much. He'll tan your ass and then be done." Abby said.

"So you don't think he'll give up on me then?" Kim asked nervously.

"Na. He loves you and Maddie. I can tell." Abbs said.

"I hope you're right." Kim said thoughtfully.

"So do I." Abby said quietly.

"I don't know how we lost them." Tony said. "How the hell are we gonna find them now?"

"Tim and Gibbs are on their way. I'm sure Tim would've brought his computer, he should be able to trace them, shouldn't he?"

"Let's hope so." Tony said. "We may as well book into somewhere for the night and text the others where to meet us." Tony said. He was getting more peeved by the minute. If Ziva wasn't up to something, why the hell was her cell turned off? They drove towards the beach and found a small hotel to book into. They took two adjoining rooms with two beds in each. At least Tim and Gibbs would have somewhere to sleep when they got there.

Gibbs and Tim had just dropped off Dylan at Ducky's and they were on there way to Virginia. Gibbs was driving so it shouldn't take them that long to get there. Tim hung up the phone irritably. "They lost them. They've booked us into a hotel for the night. Down near the beach. If any of the brats have left their cells on, I might be able to trace them."

"We'll think of something Tim. They'll be ok. It's not like they're actually in danger or anything."

"If Abby has done what I think she might have done, she just might be in danger. From me."

Gibbs smirked. "Well I'm with you there." He said. "Let's just find out for sure first."

"Let's just find them." Tim said.

A little over two hours later they pulled into the parking garage of the small hotel and made their way up to the room that Tony and Jimmy were in. "Nothing?" Tim said.

"Sorry man. I'm sure we'll find them tomorrow." Tony said.

"This is so not like Amber." Jimmy said. "She's never actually lied to me before. Except for the cabin that time, and she promised me she would never do it again."

"One thing you have to understand about these women Jimmy? Is that when they say never? They mean until next time. Kind of like, life in prison isn't really life in prison. It's until you get paroled." Jimmy looked at Tony not really sure if he was serious.

"But that's not right." Jimmy said.

"No it's not. A point which I intend to make very clear to Ziva when I find her." Tony said. Jimmy looked at the other two men.

"Well we need to make sure that they lied. They might be just down here doing what they said they were going to do."Jimmy said.

Tim smiled at Jimmy. "We can give the benefit of the doubt for now."

"Sure we can Jimmy." Tony said.

Gibbs just rolled his eyes. Was I ever that naive he thought.

TBC


	45. Chapter 45

Thanoyu for all your lovely reviews. I appreciate you taking the time. It makes it much easier for me to write when I know what you're thinking.I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 45

"Ziva's cell turned on yet Tony?" Tim asked. Tony shook his head.

"Abby?" he enquired.

"No. Neither is Sarah's." Tim said. "Jimmy?"

"No. You don't think that something might have happened do you? Like to Amber and the baby?" Jimmy said, starting to get really worried.

"Trust me, if something was really wrong, we would have heard. Bad news travels fast." Tony said. "Boss? Heard from Kim?"

"Nope." Is all he said. "Any luck finding anything out about what pageants are on Tim?"

"There's only one, but I haven't been able to reach anyone on the cell number. I know where it's gonna be held though." He said passing the address to Gibbs. "It starts at two o'clock this afternoon.

The girls were up early and Amber had them put on their shoes and practice their walks a couple more times each. Then they both had a rehearsal od their talent followed by a run through of the questions they'd likely be asked and their answers. A quick breakfast and Kim and Abby whisked the girls off for their spray tans. Amber had calls to make to make sure the hair and make up person was going to arrive on time at the venue. Ziva went for a run and Sarah snuck back in the bedroom to call Zac.

"Where are you Sar?" he asked in a relieved voice when he heard Sarah on the other end of the line.

"Abby's dragged me down to this thing, with the girls. They're calling it a bonding weekend." She said. "Boring."

"What exactly do you do on a bonding weekend?" Zac asked curiously.

"Well that what they're calling it." Sarah said crossly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zac said. Something was going on here and he had a feeling it wasn't good.

"Sorry Zac, I can't tell you. Just forget that I said anything." she said sadly.

"No Sarah I won't. Tell me what's going on right now." He said firmly. "What's Abs up to now?"

"You'll tell Tim Zac, and then everyone will get in trouble and Jess will never talk to me again........I think I better go. I love you Zac." She said realising she had said too much. "You've gotta believe me Zac, I didn't know anything about this until we were on the way here."

"I believe you Sarah and I love you too." Zac said. After he had hung up, he contemplated what to do. Which ever way he turned it, he had to tell Tim. The man was already hesitant about Zac getting to close to his sister, if he found out that Zac had this information and didn't tell him, the last shred of trust Tim had in him would be gone. He loved Sarah too much to let that happen. He really hated to do this to Abby and to ruin things for Jess but he didn't see another way. Sadly he picked up his cell and called Tim's number.

The girls burst through the hotel room door with freshly done fake tans. They were so excited though with their new nails. Kim implored them to slow down and not risk breaking their newly applied nails. With the flip flops they were wearing to avoid messing up their pedicures, one of them was bound to fall over and ruin something. Sarah sat staring at the girls, feeling terribly guilty that she may have inadvertently ruined this for them by slipping a tiny bit of information to Zac. "See my nails Sarah?" Jess said bringing Sarah back from her thoughts.  
"They're beautiful Jess. They really are." Sarah said honestly hugging the little girl.

"Sarah, when I'm in the pageant, will you take a movie of me on your phone so that I can see it later?" Jess asked.

"Sure I will. But I can do better than that. I can use Abby's camera." She said.

"Yay! What about Maddie?" she said.

"Of course, Maddie too." Sarah said smiling. Oh God I hope they don't figure out where we are too soon, she thought.

Abby got on the phone and ordered a some sandwiches from room service. They'd just about have time to choke them down before they had to leave to go to the venue.

Not even a half an hour later, they were signing the girls in and most of the ladies were taking their places in the audience with only Kim and Abby being allowed backstage. The hair stylist and makeup lady was allowed in but no extra people. Abby was a bit shocked at the transformation from little girls to sort of shrunken adult drag queens. Still, they appeared to still be having fun. Although there was a lot of whining and crying going on around them, and not all of it coming from children. My God, Abby thought. Are these women for real? It's just a kid's beauty contest. No need to be so competitive. Then she heard some one whispering and noticed they were looking in Jess direction.

"Is there a problem?" she asked, hands on her hips.

"No. I was just saying that your little girl is beautiful and she should do quite well for a first time."

"I'm sure." She said, knowing that what they had been talking about had been a good deal bitchier than that. Kim came over to reassure her.

"Don't take any notice of them. They're just jealous. They wouldn't even bother looking at Jess if they didn't think she was a threat."

Mmm. Abby thought. Jess will show them.

Tim hung up the phone from Zac. "Breakthrough. Zac spoke to Sarah. She apparently knew nothing about this until hey were on the way down here. She said that she couldn't tell him where they were because it would get everyone else in trouble and Jess would never speak to her again."

"The pageant." The rest of the boys said together. Tim started pacing up and down angrily. Rubbing his hand through his hair, he started to speak a couple of times but then stopped. Gibbs put his hand on his shoulder.

"Tim. You have to calm down." Gibbs said.

"I know Boss, I'm trying." Tim said. "I'm really upset with Abby this time. This isn't one of her usual antics. She has no right to parade our little girl up on a stage in clothes and makeup that are to adult for her. So that a bunch of misfits can judge her to see if she's up to standard. And what's the best case senario, she wins, then she thinks she truly is better than everyone else, and the worst is that she loses and things she's not good enough. The whole thing makes me feel sick to my stomach."

"Why don't you tell us how you really feel McWorry wart." Tony said trying to lighten the situation.

"Look. I can see where you're coming from Tim, but I don't think things are as dire as all that. You're angry I get that, but you're gonna have to calm down before you go any where near that place or there just not gonna let us in."Gibbs said.

"Can't we use our badges?" Tim asked.

"We'd have to have a reason Tim. I don't think 'my wife lied to me' is gonna cut it. It sure as hell won't get us a warrant." Tony hid a smile as he disappeared into their room and came out in sweats and threw some to Tim. Put these on Tim and we'll go for a run, then we'll go and find them. When you feel better."

"How much better?" Tim asked grumpily.

"Better than this." Tony said. Tim took the sweats and went to get changed, muttering something about wasting time.

When Tony and Tim had left, Gibbs noticed Jimmy sitting on the bed sadly with his cell in his hand.

"Still no answer?" he said.

"Um....no." Jimmy said guiltily. "I'm so sorry about all this. I should have known when the girls were over every afternoon and Amber suggested I study at the library.........I should have seen this coming. All of you did. She lied to me."

"Well I guess she didn't tell you what she was really doing......" Gibbs said.

"It's more than that. I asked her outright why the girls were coming over after school. She said they were just singing and dancing and playing. I asked her if Abby was up to something she shouldn't be and she changed the subject." She was probably laughing at how stupid I was not to pick up on anything." Jimmy said snippily.

"Well at least you're sounding more pissed than sad now. If you don't like the way she treated you Jimmy, do something about it." Gibbs patted his shoulder and then got up and headed for the shower leaving Jimmy with plenty to think about.

At the venue, the place was filling up and Sarah had placed her self on the end of a row so that she film each of the girls doing their bits. The judges had come to sit down, lights were being dimmed and it was obvious that the pageant was about to begin. First were the babies, followed by the toddlers and then finally Maddie and Jess. Maddie was up first and when she was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, she said "I want to be Miss America and a dance teacher." With her best fake smile which she passed around to all the judges in turn. And what are you going to be performing for your talent portion?" she was asked.

"I'm going to be singing 'Amazing Grace'. She said whipping around the fake smile all over an extra large one for Sarah who was holding the camera.

"Well thank you Maddie, I can't wait." The announcer said equally as fake as the little barbie children.

"Next we have Jess McGee, she hails from Washington this is Jess's first pageant." Jess walked out on to the stage carefully remembering everything that Amber had taught her. Abby waited nervously in the wings with baited breath for Jess to answer her questions. "Tell us Jess, what do you like to do?"

"I like to sing and dance and listen to my Daddy read me stories." She said confidently.

"And what would you like to do be when you grow up?"

"I wanna be a frensic scientist like my Mommy. She's real smart." Jess said honestly. She smiled at the judges and at Sarah and walked off stage happily.

Tim and Tony got back from their run about twenty minutes later and Tim looked much calmer. They each went to a shower and were out and dressed within ten minutes. They were finally ready to go and find the girls.

Maddie had worn three of her outfits and was just about to go on for her talent portion. Abby was struggling to squeeze Jess into the costume for her talent portion, she was combining her sportswear with her talent. Luckily they finished in time to watch Maddie's solo. As everyone watched the little girl with dark brown fake curls and large eye lashed eyes silence fell over the room. Maddie started singing and there wasn't a dry eye in the house as her sweet little voice sang 'Amazing Grace' in perfect tune. Abby stared daggers at some mothers who were twittering jealously as they waited for their child's turn. Kim was too busy mouthing the words with Maddie to notice.

Next on stage was Jess who bounced up on stage doing a cartwheel that Amber had taught her, shocking Abby half to death. Her mouth really dropped open though when her daughter started dancing and singing to the music of 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun'. Wiggling her finger and winking at each of the judges in turn, Abby was shocked and a little bit appalled to see her daughter seemingly flirting with the judges. Of course, Jess had no idea what she was really doing apart from copying the moves that Amber had taught her. Thank God Tim wasn't here, that's all Abby could think of. Little did she know that Tim and Gibbs and Tony and Jimmy were in fact on their way there.

As Jess finished her act by doing the splits, Abby was shaken out of her trance by the sheer intensity of the applause. Jess's grin was massive as she stood and turned the practiced grin on the judges, winking one more time as she walked off the stage swinging her hips. That was the first time in this set they'd seen the swaying was mostly saved that for the western wear,sending all those tassles swingin from side to side as she swung her hips. Abby was quite horrified but hid it well,not wanting to hurt Kim and Amber's feelings.

The tension back stage was building, babies were crying, children were dosing or running around like crazy, mothers were either praising, commiserating or chastising their children for doing.......whatever it was that was upsetting them or making them proud. Just breathing it appeared to Abby in some cases. She didn't really have a clue. It was like a crazy people convention, but Jess and Maddie loved it. They were in their element. Both were absolutely buzzing with excitement by the time the announcements were due to be made. All the girls filed out onto the stage and waited for names to be called.

Gibbs and Tim and Tony and Jimmy filed into the back of the room. "Remember, don't make a scene or they'll call security." Tony said to Tim. Tim barely heard him as his eyes were drawn to the little blonde barbie doll look-alike on the stage. His mouth dropped open. "What........what have they done to my baby girl?" he said stunned.

Gibbs leaned in. "Breath Tim. Just remember, it'll all wash off with soap and water. No permanent damage has been done." he said hanging on to his arm. He was trying to convince himself here as much as Tim. The sight of Maddie dressed like a little..............dressed too old and too brassy, was upsetting him as well."

As the names were read out, it was clear that neither of the girls had actually won a crown but both received sashes, which they were very proud of, although Maddie was eyeing off the crown jealously with a pout that was starting to form. As Jess looked up from the stage she saw her Daddy standing at the back of the room. "DaddY!!!" she shouted. "Did you see me?"

Tim smiled and waved and Jess. Abby with a very white face and worried expression stuck her head out from where she had been standing right down near the front and off to the side. As she made eye contact with Tim tears sprung to her eyes. There was no softening in the look that Tim returned. He was livid and he was moving quickly in her direction. Abby looked around blindly trying to find a way to escape, but before she could even think of where to go, a hand clamped down on he wrist. "Don't you even DARE move from that spot." Tim said in her ear.

"Tim I can explain." She tried, knowing that she really couldn't. Tim put his hand up to stop her.

"No, you can't. There's nothing that you can say that I want to hear right now." He went to walk away towards backstage, but then he came back. "Nothing at all. Don't move or I won't even wait until we're in private." Abby opened her mouth but closed it again as she stood rooted to the spot.

Sarah watched this scene with tears in her eyes. She didn't think she'd ever seen Tim so angry. She looked down at the camera in her hands. Maybe she should erase the footage. The less Tim saw of this little show the better for Abs. Just as she was about to do just that she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Don't do it Sarah. Tim is going to want to see that." He said.

"Hey!" she said happily. "When did you get here?"

"A few minutes ago. I thought you might need some company." He said as he squeezed her hand.

Ziva had watched the scene with Tim and Abby as well. Looking around she caught sight of Tony as he strode towards her. "Damn." She thought.

"Well, well, well. Fancy seeing you here." Tony said.

"Tony...." Ziva started but she was cut off by her unusually quiet husband.

"Save it sweetcheeks. You lied to me. No going back from that." He said taking her hand and leading her out of the hall to the foyer to wait for the others.

Amber was still sitting and didn't turn when Jimmy sat quietly next to her. Neither spoke for a few minutes. "You're mad huh?" she asked without looking at Jimmy.

"You lied to me. I asked you a straight out question and you lied." He said sadly.

"So what happens now?" she asked.

"I don't know." He said honestly. Amber swiped a tear off her cheek with the back of her hand. She looked at Jimmy sadly.

"I'm sorry." she said.

"I know." Jimmy said taking her hand."I just don't know if that's enough this time."

Gibbs stood at the back of the hall waiting for Kim to reappear with slowly walked towards the front of the hall when she ambled out guiltily carrying loads of garment bags. Maddie was trailing behind, the pout that had been forming now about to simmer into a meltdown as she passed the little girl who had won. Seeing Gibbs standing there she settled for poking out her tongue at the happy little winner and trying to knock her flowers off the chair where they were perched. Gibbs caught them in time and apologised for Maddie's behaviour, smacking her bottom smartly as he hurried her on her way. Taking the garment bags from Kim he whispered in her ear. "What did I tell you about her behaviour backsliding?" Kim rolled her eyes but then backed out of Jethro's reach, until she realised she was safe while he had arms full of garment bags.

Tim emerged from backstage next, carrying Jess in on one arm and the garment bags on the other. He plopped her down and told her to walk with Maddie towards the cars with the others. "Tim I.........."

"Don't. I can't talk about this yet. I'm too angry and I don't want to say something that I'll regret later. We'll make this ok Abby, but at the moment I don't know if I can even spank you, I'm just too upset."

"So what happen's now." She said.

"We checked out of our hotel, so if it's alright with the others, we'll come back to yours and get some more rooms there. Maybe we'll be able to talk."

"Talk?" Abby asked.

"I don't know Abs. You will be getting spanked, don't worry about that. But there are other things to take care of first."

"Like?" she said.

"You really have to ask Abby? Like washing all that crap off our daughters face and turning her back into a six year old."

"Of course Timmy. I thought you meant something else." She said starting to cry. She had never before since she got married felt so insecure around her husband. It must have shown, because she saw a fleeting glimpse of her old Timmy as he leaned in and kissed her. "I will get over this." He said. "Eventually." That just made Abby cry harder.

Gibbs leaned in towards Kim. "There could be serious problems there between those two Kim. I hope it was worth it."

"It wasn't. Not if Tim can't forgive Abby. Jethro it was my idea, well not all of it, but I started it and we got carried away, all of us, especially Amber and me, I'm sorry." She said desperately.

"You will be." He said simply.

The girls all piled into Abby's people mover with the kids, while the boys travelled in their cars and Sarah and Zac brought up the rear. They were lucky enough to be able to get another four rooms. Three doubles and a single. This meant that each couple could have a room to themselves, a double room for Sarah and the girls and a single for Zac. The men and Zac moved the stuff from room to room getting it set up while the women did there best to get the girls back to normal. Although, short of actually using a scrubbing brush, they could not remove all the tan. It was just going to have to wear off. At least the eye lashes and the make up and fake hair were gone Abby thought as she dressed Jess in her pyjamas and brushed out her hair.

As she looked at her daughter's shiny blonde curly locks, she wondered what ever possessed her to use fake hair. Whatever possessed her to do any of this? Sure Jess was happy, but at what cost, and she wasn't talking about the damage Timmy was going to do to her ass. The fact that she had upset Tim to the point that he could hardly even talk to her, the fact that she had risked her daughter's innocence, not in a physical sense but letting her get dressed up in all that garb and the winking and the swaying of the hips. Abby knew why Tim was upset and he was right. She never should have let her desire for retribution at Tim for being bossy take over her responsibility as a parent. She was wrong and she take whatever she had coming.

TBC


	46. Chapter 46

First of all, I'm really sorry I didn't get a chapter up yesterday I was really busy. Just didn't get time. This is a really big chapter to make up for it. It wasn't that easy to write with all the different realationships, so please tell me what you think. Thanks for all the reviews and alerts. I appreciate them all :)

Chapter 46

With the kids cleaned up and in their pyjamas, the family sat down to a quick dinner they had ordered from room service. It was a very sombre affair by all accounts, with Abby pushing food around the plate and not actually eating anything. As she reached for her third can of Red bull, Tim gently took it from her hand and replaced it with her fork. "Eat." He said. "Making yourself sick and overloaded with caffeine Abs is not going to erase this."

"I can't." she said with a pout.

"You can." He said giving her a meaningful look. She looked at him sadly and stabbed a piece of chicken with her fork. When she realised his eyes were still on her she took the chicken off the fork with her teeth like it might just poison her, chewing it over and over before she finally swallowed it.

"Mommy if you don't eat your dinner you won't get any dessert." Jess said. "Will she Daddy?"

"Nope." He said. "Have you finished?"

"Yep. Can we watch the movie now?" Jess asked. Abby suddenly started eating her dinner faster, tipping Tim off that there was more about to be even more to this story.

"Which movie Jess?" he asked. The room suddenly went very quiet.

"The one that Sarah took on Mommy's camera. I want to see me and Maddie on TV. Can I please?" she begged.

"That is an excellent idea. Sarah go get the camera please and the cords to plug into the TV. Thanks." Tim said. Sarah got up to go get the camera as she was asked but she couldn't help giving Abby a sympathetic glance on her way out. Abby tried to smile to reassure her but she knew that when Tim saw Jess in that swimwear, he was gonna explode.

Sarah returned a few minutes later, camera in hand and passed it to Tim, who wasted no time at all hooking it up to the TV and turning it on. Abby was surprised and not a little worried as she watched Tim watch the pageant. His face was completely bland as he watched most of the footage, not giving anything away until Jess came on wearing the swimwear. Tim looked at Abby who couldn't do anything but look down. The western wear wasn't much better with all the sashaying and winking at the judges. But when she was being asked the questions he actually smiled. Especially when Jess said she wanted to be a frensic scientist like her Mommy. Tim squeezed Abby's hand and she let out a breath that she didn't know she'd been holding. But at the sight of his Jess singing 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' he winced. Not at the singing, which he thought was cute, but at the winking and the hip swaying again. Which ever way you looked at this it was flirting and six year old girls shouldn't be taught to flirt by adults that love them. When they got to the end of the footage, Tim turned off the TV and suggested that Sarah take the girls and put them to bed. Zac went with her.

"I want you out of Sarah's room Zac by midnight ok?" he said. "And Zac? Thanks for today. You were a big help." Zac grinned, happy to be back in the good books agaain. And Sarah? Try and keep in mind that their little minds have been opened up enough for one day, don't give them anything else to think about ok?" She nodded and left with a sideways glance at Zac.

When the young ones had all left Tim stood and took Abby's hand. "I think we're going to call it a night." He said simply. "We'll see you all in the morning for breakfast." And before anyone could really say anything they were gone.

"Before anyone else goes anywhere, I want to know who's responsible for what with this little fiasco." Gibbs said as he stared from one to the other.

"Kim?" Gibbs asked first although all the girls could sense their turn was coming. "Well?"

"Um......it started at lunch a couple of Sundays ago. You know when we were talking about the pageant and you said they wear hooker make up........."

"And I said I'd been in pageants and then I explained to Abby that they weren't that bad and then Tim got all bossy and said that Jess was never going in one and Abby got mad and............."

"She decided to get even." Gibbs finished for her.

"Kind of. But there's more to it."

"Abby was in the kitchen when Jess and Maddie came in. Jess said that Maddie had new stuff for her pageant, and Abby said 'that's good Maddie' and then Jess got upset because she didn't understand why it was good for Maddie and she wasn't allowed to go in the pageant at all. So Abby told her we'll see."

"You know what 'we'll see' means to a six year old Jethro." Kim said frankly.

"It means I'll think about it." Gibbs said.

"It means I'll have to nag a little bit more but yes." Kim said and Amber nodded. Ziva and the boys were all feeling very confused.

"So anyway, Abby ended up stuck between a rock and a hard place. She had Jess wanting to go in the pageant thinking that Abby had said yes and Tim dead set against it."

"So she decided on letting Jess go in the pageant." Gibbs said.

"Not quite. She said that even if she could get Tim to agree, which she knew he wouldn't, she wouldn't know how or where to get all the stuff." Kim said, slowing down now that she realised she had been talking herself into a corner.

"So I bet that's where you came in." Gibbs said with a stern expression.

"I said I'd really love to do this for her because she had been such a good friend to me, and I said I'd put everything in my name so Tim wouldn't find out."

"Big mistake." Gibbs said firmly. "Go on."

"Well...........I........um....."

"This is already not looking good for you Kim, you can't make it much worse, just get on with it." Gibbs said losing patience.

"I registered Jess and bought all the outfits and........"

"That's where I came in." Amber said, unwilling to let Kim take all the blame. "I picked them up lots after school and worked on all the dancing and singing and taught them how to act in front of the judges." she said the last bit quietly, knowing it was one of the things that had upset Tim the most.

"You taught them to do all that ..........stuff they were doing to the judges?" Jimmy said, speaking up for the first time. "Amber, that's so not right. Tim was right. Our child, if it's a girl is never going to be in one of these things either."

"I still don't see what's so bad about it. It's just a bit of fun." Amber said.

Gibbs looked over at Jimmy and raised his eyebrows meaningfully. It was a challenge and Jimmy knew it.

Tim opened the door and waited for Abby to walk past him, which she did carefully, a bit surprised really when he didn't swat her a few times on the way in. Her Tim would normally have given her at least a few mighty whacks by now, this Tim was yet to lay a finger on her. It was disconcerting to say the least.

"Sit." Tim said pointing to the bed. She sat.

"How did this start Abby?" Tim asked.

"Um.....well.....it started a couple of Sundays ago..........." She continued to explain the story, the same as Kim and Amber were doing down the hall.

"So you're telling me that this started because I dared to have an opinion, albeit a strong one, about something that I didn't want our daughter involved in?"

"Kind of." Abby said, realising now how childish that was.

"We talk about everything Abby, especially things to do with the kids. If I was being succinct about this, you should have known that it was because I had a good reason. I can't stand little girls in pageants. Little girls that are dressed up like.....like.....Gibbs was right. Like little hookers. Little girls that are taught to flirt and do suggestive dances, by the people that they trust. The whole thing makes me sick to my stomach. And don't you dare say that you didn't know why I felt that strongly, because if you'd bothered to ask me, I would have told you. I didn't know there was a problem, because you were downright deceitful and hypocritical."

"I'm sorry Tim." Abby said. "I should have talked to you." Tim motioned for to go on with the story. When she got to the part about Kim and Amber's involvement, he didn't stop her but he filed it away for future reference. He would have a word to those ladies in the morning.

"So if you had reservations when you saw the costumes, why didn't you stop it then?" Tim asked.

"Because it had gone too far. So much time and effort and money had been out into this, and I know now that I should have stopped it, but at the time I just got carried away with the others." Abby put her head down, knowing how immature she was sounding. "I was wrong Tim, I should have protected Jess more."

"Yes you should. Jess is too young to know what's best for her. You can't let her do things that you know are wrong just because you don't want her to feel bad. It would be the same if Toby was allowed to drive the car up and down the street. And I let Dylan do the same so that he didn't feel left out." Tim said.

"That would be stupid." Abby said.

Yes it would, and so was this. And defiant and deceiptful."

"I know. I'm sorry. Are we ever going to be alright again?"

"Of course we will. We are already Abs. I love you. But you are in big trouble here but I don't really think you need reminding of that. There's something that I want you to remember. We are friends with these people, hell we're like family, but the way we bring up our kids is between us. Things don't have to passed by a jury of your peers. So before you ever let Kim or Amber have input again into the way our kids are raised think about tonight.

Tony and Ziva said their goodnights and went to their room.

"Tony, I shouldn't have lied. I should have spoken up when I saw the costumes that they were going to dress Jess in and I should have told you where we were going." She said.

"Why didn't you Zi, it's not like you to get carried away with peer pressure?"Tony asked.

"It is nice to have women friends Tony. I have not had much of this. These women they trust each other and they look out for each other. It is nice to have this." Ziva tried to explain.

"What about the trust between us Zi? The trust in our marriage. I won't have you lie to me." He said seriously. "I'm a bit shocked that all you women sat back and condoned those little girls acting that way. And dressing like that. Would you want your daughter to be in one of these pageants?" Tony asked.

"Never." Ziva answered honestly.

"Then you should have told Tim."

"I know."

"You know I'm gonna spank you, don't you?"

Ziva nodded. "I know."

"Come on then, he said unbuttoning her khakis and pulling her over his knee. She sucked in a deep breath as his hand came down with a resounding smack first on one cheek and then on the other. Ziva found it hard to believe when she was allowing herself to be spanked by Tony, this had only happened a few times in their marriage,she couldn't believe how vulnerable it made her feel. She was a trained assassin. She had killed people and she had been tortured and yet her husband could make her feel like a naughty five year old girl. It was even more annoying to her when she felt the tears burning her eyes, which is why she completely lost her sense of self preservation and bit Tony on the leg. Tony let out an almighty yelp, followed by a startled "Ziva!" With several really hard smacks to each thigh, he stopped.

"What the hell?!" he said.

"It was a reflex Tony. I did not mean to......"

"Take a chunk out of my leg?" he finished for her. "You drew blood! Geez Ziva."

"I told you. I am sorry. I have been trained to defend myself." Tony narrowed his eyes at her but decided to let it go for now.

"Well you better not lie again." He said sternly. He knew that someone had learned a lesson here tonight, he just wasn't exactly sure which one of them that was. "Let's get some sleep." He said and she cuddled up next to him with a smile on her face.

As the others left and Gibbs and Kim were left in the room alone, he turned to glare at her.

"Guess you're not ready to see the funny side of this yet, are you?" she asked screwing up her face.

"Not sure that's ever gonna happen." he said as he advanced on her slowly.

"Ok, I can see that you're upset by all this so maybe we should just shelve all this until we feel better." she said hopefully as she backed up towards the bed.

"Oh I think this just might make us feel a whole lot least it's gonna make me feel better." He said as he sat on the bed and unbuttoned her jeans.

"Jethro, isn't it a rule that you're supposed to calm down before you spank someone?" Kim asked desperately as she felt her self falling over Gibbs knee. Gibbs thought about it for a split second.

"Nope! Not one of my rules." He said as he brought his hand down with a blood curdling crack. When he matched the other side with a smack that was just as hard, Kim let out a screech.

"JESUS!" she yelled.

"He's not gonna help you here Kim. He'd be telling me to spank you harder."

"Jethro! Your doing it to hard! That's really hurting!" she said thrashing wildly to try and get away. Gibbs kept spanking in a steady rhythm until her backside was a bright shade of red. Kim was sobbing and trying to rub the sting away as he stood her up and between his legs.

"That! Was for putting those little girls in that position. I know that Maddie isn't mine, but I love her. As much as I love you and I won't let you do that much damage to her ever again. That was a disgrace. Getting the girls dressed up like that so strange adults can ogle them and judge them. Never again while we're together. I mean it."

"Ok." She said hearing the ultimatum that was behind the words.

"And you will never step between another couples' marriage again."

"Ok. I'm sorry Jethro."

"Save your apologies. We're not finished yet." He said as he led her to the corner. Stay here and think about what we've talked about and how many times you've lied and got Maddie to lie." He said as he walked away and sat on the bed.

Tim sat Abby at the small table in their room with a piece of paper and a pen. "I'm going to have a shower. When I get back, I want you to have written a complete list of everything that you've done wrong here from start to finish and don't leave anything out." As the door shut, Abby started writing madly with a list that was as honest as she could make it. She wasn't stupid. Big trouble was well on its way and she didn't want to make it any harder than it had to be. As she wrote the final line, she read back through and was pretty sure that Timmy would be satisfied. The first thing he did as he came back into the room in a pair of clean pyjama pants, was to pick up the note and read it. Abby could tell by the look on his face that he was satisfied. At least that she had understood what she'd done wrong. The punishment was still to come. At this point, Abby just wanted to get it over with so that things could get back to normal. Tim knew this which is why he was dragging it out. This was important and he was gonna make damn sure she didn't just forget this in five minutes and move on. He went and sat on the bed. "Take off everything except the Tshirt and come over here please Abby." He said.

Shit! She thought. This is worse than I thought. He's gonna make me do the whole coming to him thing. She did as he asked though, and was soon standing at his side. Her eyes widened when she saw the hairbrush in his hand. She didn't have time to contemplate what her feelings about the brush were,as she soon found her self contemplating the carpet instaed. Nothing could have prepared her anyway though for the burning that seemed to engulf her entire being as that hair brush rapidly set her ass completely on fire. It was with great difficulty that she found enough breath to yell at the top of her lungs. "Motherfucker Tim! Slow Down!" Not the smartest move she ever made, particularly under the circumstances. Those circumstances being that she was already over her pissed off husband's knee and he had a weapon of mass destruction in his hand. One that she found he could use with even greater intensity when she managed to piss him off even more. When he felt her tears against his leg he stopped and stood her up. But when no hug was forthcoming and there were no declarations of forgiveness, she knew things were not done yet. Tim stayed on the bed and told her to go to the corner. She looked at him, her eyes pleading sadly, but all she got was another sharp smack and a slight push in the direction she was expected to go. She went, and tried not to rub the sting out of her already burning bottom.

After what was actually ten minutes but what seemed like hours She felt Tim's breath behind her. "Go and lay over the pillows." He said quietly.

"Please Tim." She said. "I've had enough."

"This isn't play, Abby. It's punishment. I know you've had enough, as I have of the lying. I promised you the belt every time you lied and I didn't lie. Now go and lay over the pillows on the bed." She did.

Jimmy and Amber entered their room with a world of silence between them.  
"You're really angry aren't you Jimmy?" She said.

"Ya think?" he said. "I thought we had an honest relationship Amber and then I find out that you lied to me. Not only that, but you've been apparently running a school of brazenness, for little girls that we love, right beneath my nose. Without even checking with their folks to see if that's what they wanted. Every time you sent me to the library it was another lie. When you told me about this stupid weekend. Another lie. I asked you, if Abby was up to anything. Another lie. Is anything about this relationship honest any more? " He said angrily.

Amber had never seen Jimmy this worked up and it was scaring her. "I love you. That's the truth. What happens now? Will you forgive me?"

"I don't know the answer to either of those questions right now." Jimmy said and he walked in to the bathroom and shut the door. Amber burst into tears. She really didn't know what to do to fix this.

She let her mind drift to what was probably going on in the other rooms and she sighed. That was the only answer. While she didn't relish the idea of having her ass set on fire, she did need the forgiveness that came after. She had seen how that worked with Abby and Tim. That's what she needed. She needed to feel like everything was back on track again and that she and Jimmy were ok.

When Jimmy came out of the bathroom, with a towel around his waist, he was shocked. Amber was standing in the corner wearing nothing but one of his Tshirts. He knew exactly why and what she needed and he had to agree, it was probably the only thing that would bring the resolution that they both needed. It might just stop Gibbs from killing one of them as well. He opened his bag and got out a pair of pyjama pants and slipped them on and then went a stood behind Amber. "Are you sure?' He said. She turned her face to his and nodded, tears shining in her eyes. He took her hand and led her to the bed and sat down arranging her across his knees gently, bearing in mind that she was pregnant and he didn't want to hurt her in any other way other than to warm her bottom. He made sure that a good deal of her weight was leaning on the bed. He almost smiled when he saw how tightly her eyes were squeezed shut. Amber was not very brave with pain and this wouldn't be easy for her to bear. Still it was the right thing. For both of them. So Jimmy took a big breath to steady his nerves and brought his hand down with a loud smack. Amber gasped. He followed this up with another on the other side and then just kept spanking, he had no idea what he was doing but he knew it had to hurt a little at least, so he ignored Amber's loud shouting and complaints as he concentrated on the job at hand. When he could see that her bottom was fairly pink and she was starting to sob he stopped and pulled her up into a hug.

"It hurts." She sobbed into his shoulder. "It hurts a lot."

"I think that's the point. If it tickled honey, it wouldn't be much of a deterrent would it?"

"I guess. I'm so sorry. Do you love me again now?" she asked.

"Amber! It was never a matter of not loving you. I was angry and disappointed, that's all. " he said cuddling her close and kissing her gently.

"Can we go to bed now, I'm really tired." She said as her eye lids started to droop."

"Sure thing." He said as he pulled back the covers and helped her slip inside. Climbing into his own side of the bed, he pulled her in close to him and they both were asleep in minutes.

Gibbs got up and took Kim's hand and led her back to the bed. He pulled her back over his knee. "This part of your spanking is for lying." He said as he brought his Doubled over belt down with a resounding whack. Kim had never felt pain like this in her life. She tried to rock from side to side to get away from the burning that was building on her rear end, but Gibbs held her firmly in place, not wanting to make this last any longer than possible. After about ten hard smacks with the belt, he stopped and pulled Kim up into a hug. He wiped away the tears that were flowing freely down her cheeks and waited for sobs to slip into quiet crying and eventually just hitched breaths.

"I'm sorry." She said for what felt like the millionth time that day.

"I know, and you're forgiven It's all over." He said kissing the top of her head.

"Gibbs?"

"Yeh?"

"Did you actually say you loved me and Maddie or did I hallucinate it?" she asked

Gibbs chuckled. "No I really said it. And I meant it."

"I love you too." She said as she took his face in her hands and kissed him deeply. "This time, I'm gonna have to be on top." She said cheekily.

"Ya think?" he said.

Abby laid over the pillows and covered her face with her hands. She didn't realise but Tim was having a pretty close look at her backside and checking how much more she could take. She was already pretty red and even had a couple of faint bruises. He decided that six would be more than enough to make a point. He didn't waste any time and brought the belt down firmly. Abby jumped but made herself stay in place. The next couple were brought down fairly quickly, he made sure not to 's resolve was weakening as the lines of fire built into a slow burning blaze on her already well punished backside. The last three he brought down directly on her sit spots, she would certainly was going to have something to think about for the next couple of days, that was for sure, he thought, not paticularly sympathetically. Tim threw the belt on the floor and lay down beside Abby on the bed, where she was still sobbing into her hands. She didn't dare look into his eyes in case she still found the cold look that she had been scaring her since this fiasco started.

"Abs. Honey? It's ok. It's over." he said as he pulled her hands away from her eyes.

"Really? You're not mad anymore?" she said as a fresh wave of tears engulfed her.

"Really. You're forgiven. I'm not mad anymore. It's over."

"Thank god." She said as she climbed into the comforting circle of his arms. Tim held on to her like he never wanted to let go, until Abby stuck her head up.

"If that Jimmy doesn't spank Amber, you or Gibbs better do it. She always gets away with murder." She said sniffing.

Tim chuckled as she again buried her self in his chest. Well at least he was sure he hadn't broken her spirit.

TBC


	47. Chapter 47

Thank you all for your reviews. As always, I love them all. I'm sorry if some of you feel that Tim was too harsh with Abby, but hey she knew the risk. Hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 47

As dawn broke on the new day, the couples were all sleeping peacefully, having left the disastrous pageant day behind them.

One little girl was asleep with a smile on her face after their exciting adventure of being Princess for the day. Jess wasn't really a princess for a day but it sure had felt like it, to her at least. Maddie didn't really have a smile on HER face at the start of her dream. In her dream that stupid Jasmine got a big smack for cheating and got her crown taken off her. The crown which was then of course given to Maddie, who should have won it in the first place. But Maddie was nice, she would have given the flowers to Jess because Jess was her friend. Now she was smiling in her dream because she was wearing the crown and everyone was smiling at her and not that stupid Jasmine.

Sarah was laying peacefully in her bed. Even though she wasn't really tired anymore because it had been a pretty early night, she was kind of happy because there had been big trouble here last night, but for once she wasn't involved. This should have made her extremely happy, except that Zac had refused to make out with her at all last night while the girls were asleep in the room. Even when they were sure they were actually asleep. She hated that he cared so much about pleasing Tim. About doing the right thing all the time. It wasn't like they were going to get into caught, Tim had been way too occupied with Abby to even notice WHAT they were doing. But that was Zac, always on the straight and narrow.

Ziva had been the first to wake, and suffering no ill effects from her mild spanking, she decided to go for a run. Tony slept on until his ninja had woken him after returning from her run.

Amber had woken feeling slightly seedy with morning sickness, but she wasn't feeling any ill effects from the night before either. So she was currently sitting in bed sipping the tea that Jimmy had brought her and trying to make herself swallow a cracker. Luckily the morning sickness didn't last very long anymore and she hoped she would be fine by the time they were meeting the others for breakfast at 9:30.

Kim however WAS feeling the effects and yelped as she tried to sit up in bed. Gibbs chuckled. " Nice Jethro nice." She said as she got off the bed as comfortably as she possibly could, and hobbled towards the shower. She sighed as the luke warm water soothed her aching posteria. She tried to increase the heat a little but quickly adjusted the taps to bring the temperature of the water down again, as the hot water that made contact with her backside reignited the fire she was trying to damp down. Luckily she had packed a loose skirt to wear and she decided against underwear for now. This was going to be a hell of a trip home tomorrow, she thought.

"Time to get up Abs." Tim said gently into Abby's ear as he rubbed circles on her back, She had gone to sleep with no panties so Tim was able to take a peak. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found no extra bruises this morning. Just the two very faint ones that he'd seen last night. She was very still pretty pink though and the belt had left faint lines. Not surprisingly, Abby had spent the entire night on her tummy. As Tim tried to wake her again she shoved his hand away.

"If you're finished with your assessment of my damaged ass Timmy,pardon the pun, maybe you could let me get some sleep. "

"Glad to see you haven't lost your very keen sense of wit." Tim said smiling. "Abby the others will be waiting."

"Too sore." She said grumpily. "Tell them I'm not coming." She had never felt this way after a spanking. It was like some kind of double header. That damn hairbrush had hurt like hell and now even the next morning there was a constant dull throb that was irritating beyond belief. The belt, on top of the hairbrush had stung and it still burned this morning. She wouldn't say that she was in pain exactly, just extremely uncomfortable.

"Abby get up, come on, we have to have breakfast with the others. Jess is gonna wonder where we are." he said, trying to stay patient. Abby thought about saying something else, but her butt was already sore. She didn't want to give Tim an excuse to heat it back up. Besides, she knew she had to go for Jess and Sarah.

"I'm coming." she said as she crawled to the edge of the bed on her tummy and slipped off the edge.

"That was very clever Abs." Tim said. "Anyone would think you'd had some experience with dealing with a sore bottom."

Abby narrowed her eyes at her husband who seemed to have found his inner smartass this tried hard not to laugh. "Not funny Tim." She said. "That spanking really hurt."

"It was meant to. I wasn't playing." He said seriously.

"I think I got that already." She answered crabbily.

"Good. Though you wouldn't know that by your attitude this morning."

Abby sighed. "I'm sorry Timmy. Ok? I'm trying, really I am." Tim kissed her forehead and gave her a gentle push towards the bathroom.

All the others were in the hotel's breakfast room by the time Tim and Abby arrived. All faces turned to them as they walked towards the table. Abby could see that Kim was squirming in her seat, but Ziva and Amber looked to be sitting just fine. Abby turned to Tim. "See, I told you Amber wouldn't get in trouble." She said accusingly.

Jess ran across the room and threw herself at her mother and then her Daddy. "Mommy! Daddy! I missed you." she said. "What's wrong Mommy?"

"Nothing sweetie, I'm fine." Abby said.

"What are you gonna have for breakfast?" Tim asked as he scooped Jess up into his arms. He took her to sit with him at the end of the table where all the other men were. He knew that Abby needed some venting time with her friends. Besides, it looked like Gibbs had a very cranky looking Maddie sitting next to him unhappily. Jess was bound to want to sit close to her friend.

"What's the matter Maddie?" Tim asked.

"Leave me alone." She said.

"Hey! Don't you be so rude!" Gibbs said to Maddie. "You apologise right now."

"Sorry." She said begrudgingly. Gibbs rolled his eyes.

"Maddie thinks that Jasmine cheated and that's why she winned the crown." Jess said conversationally.

"That's called being a bad sport Maddie." Gibbs said. "Who cares what any of those people think anyway. I think you two are the two most beautiful girls in the world. You don't need to dress up like that to impress people."

"You do if you wanna get a crown." Maddie said.

Down the other end of the table Abby turned to Kim. "How bad?" she asked.

"Hard hand spanking, corner time and belt. You?" Kim asked with genuine concern on her face.

"Hard hairbrush, corner time and belt." Abby said almost proudly. "Amber?"

"Over the knee hand spanking." She said. All there mouths gaped and they all turned to stare at Jimmy at the same time. He blushed bright red and tried in vain to continue the conversation he'd been in the middle of with Tim.

Tim patted him on the shoulder. "Just as well you spanked her Jimmy, Abby was out to get her spanked somehow."

Jimmy just gave a nervous grin, not really sure what to say.

"Ziva?" Amber asked.

She grinned widely. "Over the knee spanking which was interrupted when I bit him on the leg." she said proudly. They all burst out laughing causing the men to turn and look at them in surprise. Ziva flashed Tony a dazzling smile as he narrowed his eyes at her, knowing instinctively what they were all laughing at.

By the time the breakfast arrived, the ladies were all happily chatting away even though a couple of them were decidedly uncomfortable. "You know what we should do?" Kim said.

"If it's any type of revenge, I'm out." Abby said. "My ass is gonna be out of action for a while. I don't have a lot of self preservation but what little I do have is certainly in attendance today. I'm staying out of trouble for the foreseeable future."

"So am I!" Kim said. "This isn't anything bad. I just thought that seeing as how we're here for another day, we could go for a swim."

"No can do." Abby said. "But I'll come down and sit in the shade and read a book if you like, while you three swim."

"Come on Abs, don't be a spoil sport." Amber said. Abby rolled her eyes and leaned in to explain it quietly as if she would to a child.

"When I say I can't Amber, I don't mean I don't want to I mean I CAN'T. My ass is not fit for public display." Abby explained.

"Oh. OH! He left marks!" Amber said shocked. She felt as though she had been well spanked, but her bottom was back to being it's normal colour in no time. "TIM! How could you!" she said indignantly.

"How could I what?" Tim asked, confused at what he possibly could have done to upset Amber.

"You know what!" she said standing with her hands on her hips.

"Sit down Amber." Abby said in her Mommy voice. Amber did, but she was still confused. Abby put her hand on top of Amber's and tried to lighten the situation. "It's not that bad. It just looks a bit like the flag that's all. Stars and stripes. Well except that the stars are more like half moons." Realising she had made things worse not better,she tried to fix it. "Amber, I'm ok. I'll live."

"So is this a no to the swimming?" Ziva said.

"Is that all you can think about? Aren't you concerned?" Amber said.

"No." Ziva said as she went on with her breakfast. "McGee would not really hurt Abby." She said quietly, mindful that the kids were at the other end of the table. She tried to convey this to Amber with her eyes, but the girl was oblivious.

"Well somebody should be." She said as she started to stand again. Jimmy had his eyes on Amber and had noticed the situation getting out of control.

"Amber! Sit down and eat your breakfast." He said in a tone that no one at the table had heard from him before. "It's none of your business." Amber opened her mouth to argue but she was thrown off kilter by the look on her fiance's face. She sat, and although she occasionally shared a angry stare between Tim and Jimmy, she let the subject drop.

"Well,well, well!" Tony said patting Jimmy on the back. "Look who found a pair."

Gibbs rolled his eyes and slapped him on the back of the head. "Ouch Boss! What did I do?"Tony said rubbing the back of his head. Gibbs eyes darted to the two little girls who thankfully seemed oblivious to what was going on.

"What did Jimmy find a pair of Uncle Tony?" Jess asked. Gibbs slapped Tony again.

"Thankyou Boss. Glasses Jess. He found a new pair of glasses." Tony said trying to cover.

"No he didn't." Maddie said meanly, obviously still in the same bad mood."Those are his old glasses. You told a lie."

"Enough Miss. Get on with your breakfast or you can go back to bed until you can get up on the right side." Gibbs said.

"Well he did. He telled a lie." Maddie said pouting as she poked a piece of pancake into her mouth. Tony didn't know what to say really, so he went back to inhaling his breakfast.

Down the other end of the table Amber was quietly brooding. It was only a matter of time before she blew. It was obvious. The other girls were a bit shocked at this; they'd never seen this side of Amber. She was usually so sweet. Of course it could be the hormones, Abby rationalised. Kim didn't seem perturbed, but then she lived with Maddie, so this kind of behaviour wasn't that unusual for her.

Ziva's head popped up as an idea came to her. She had been quietly taking in the activities from up and down the table. All the pieces were starting to fit. The only two people at the table still carrying on today were Amber and Maddie. Interesting, Ziva thought. Maddie could be just as sweet as Amber was most of the time. Amber was a pageant princess too. Only the grown up managed to keep the bratty side of her well hidden most of the time because she was an adult and she had learned some control. Well if Tim giving Abby a hard spanking prevents Jess from being in anymore of these pageant things, then she was pleased. She was seeing more and more what harm can come from these things.

When Kim had finished her breakfast she stood up. "I'm going to go for a swim, anyone care to join me?"

"We will. Won't we Maddie?" Gibbs said smiling. Maddie didn't answer but she nodded.

Tony and Ziva both agreed and so did Zac and Sarah. Tim looked at Abby but she rolled her eyes, telling him everything he needed to know. "You take Jess though. I'll just lie on my side and read my book." she said with a mock sad expression.

"Good idea." Tim said grinning. "Still no sympathy here Abby."

"I know." She said as she took Jess hand. "Come on baby girl, we'll go and get you ready."

When she got upstairs Sarah took Jess for Abby as her stuff was all in her room. Abby went into her own room to try on her bikini and see how bad it looked. Unfortunately it was quite high cut and showed of a good portion of her well spanked backside. Abby sighed and popped on a pair of shorts and grabbed her book, heading off downstairs to meet the others.

Gibbs and Kim were already downstairs as well as most of the others. Kim was able to wear her swimming costume as it was a one piece that was more modestly cut and it covered most of her bottom. There were only a few pink lines poking out from each side of lower portion of her swim suit. And a couple of really faint ones across the top of each thigh. This wouldn't probably be noticeable at all to the average person unless they knew what they were from experience or discussion. Unfortunately due to the discussion at breakfast, Amber knew exactly what the marks were, and she wasted no time in setting her sights on first Kim's backside and then on Gibbs, who was standing next to Kim at the edge of the pool watching Tony, Tim and Zac horse around with the was swimming laps and Sarah was laying on her tummy in the sun. Abby was lying on her side under an umbrella watching the antics. Jimmy was sitting next to her on his own deck chair waiting for Amber to come down from their room. He hadn't noticed that she had even entered the pool area until it was too late.

Amber marched up to Gibbs and poked him in the shoulder. "I get the whole spanking thing, and I can see how a few well placed smacks can clear the air, but leaving marks on someone you love is uncalled for. You big bully!" she said getting herself really worked up. She would have loved to have gone for Tim but he was in the water.

Gibbs was stunned. "What the hell?" he said.

"Amber! What's got into you?" Kim said as shocked as Gibbs. Realising something was afoot, Jimmy got up and hurried over just in time to see Amber push Gibbs into the pool.

Never in the history of that hotel had there ever been such silence as there was at that moment. It was like the scene had been freeze framed for a split second until the water parted and Leroy Jethro Gibbs emerged with a look of thunder on his face.

TBC


	48. Chapter 48

Thankyou all so much for your reviews and alerts. I really appreciate them all.I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 48

As Gibbs dragged himself out of the pool with ease, the pool area again came to life. Abby was still lying on her deck chair sideways but she was sporting a massive grin. Oh yeh! She thought. Now Amber was gonna know what a real spanking felt like. Not just a few of Jimmy's love taps.

Amber took a few steps back, panic written all over her face at the look of determination Gibbs was wearing. Unfortunately, there'd be no getting away for Amber because she'd stepped back straight into the arms of Jimmy, who looked positively mortified.

Ziva had stopped swimming and was waiting with eager anticipation to see how this was going to pan out, as were Tim and Zac. Tony was in total awe. He'd never known anyone who'd had the guts to do something like that, and she didn't even have a descent reason. It was all he could do not to burst out laughing, he was so excited. Sarah had sat upright in shock as the splash from the pool had landed on her as Gibbs had hit the water. Her gaze was following the faces that weren't giving away any information at all. From Gibbs to Amber to Jimmy and back to Gibbs again. She just could not imagine what was going to happen next.

Kim was too stunned to say anything either. She and Gibbs were getting along fine, they'd put last night behind them. What on earth had Amber been going on about. The silence was finally broken by Maddie. "You shouldn't have outta done that Amber, Gibbs is gonna spank your bottom but good." She said innocently. Now Tony did laugh out loud until Gibbs swung around and glared at him and then he dove under the water in an effort to control himself or at least hide, the only thing giving him away was the telltale bubbles floating up from the direction of his head.

Gibbs leaned in to Jimmy. "I suggest you take your fiance upstairs to your room and talk to her about what is and isn't the proper way to act. Particularly in front of the children." He looked at his underwater watch and then back at Jimmy. "You've got fifteen minutes and then I'll be up there to have a chat with her myself."

"I AM standing here you know!" Amber said with her hands on her hips. "If you've got something to say, you can say it TO ME, you don't have to go through Jimmy." Jimmy already had hold of her arm and was attempting to get her out of there. Gibbs leaned in close.

"I have plenty to say to you Amber, none of which you're gonna want me to say in front of an audience. I am also well aware of the fact that you're pregnant, so I'm trying to cut you some slack. If that had been anyone else, I would have carted them off to the bedroom and blistered their backsides by now, so take a bit of advice, and don't look a gift horse in the mouth." He spun her around and sent her on her way with hard smack to her backside. She tried to turn her head in Gibbs' direction,very prepared to keep the argument going, but Jimmy had already towed her out of the pool area.

As they entered the elevator, Jimmy turned on Amber. "What the hell did you do that for?" he said.

"What?" she said testily as she pouted.

"What? Shout at Gibbs and push him in the pool." He said incredulously.

"Kim has marks." She said.

"What kind of marks?" Jimmy said, trying to understand why his mild mannered girlfriend had suddenly turned into crazy person. Because only a crazy person would push Gibbs into a pool.

"Where he used the belt on her. He left marks." She said.

"And? What's that got to do with you? Kim didn't seem upset?" he said.

"Doesn't make it right." She said haughtily.

"Neither does pushing Gibbs in the pool." Jimmy said. As the elevator doors opened on their floor, he took her hand and pulled her behind him until they got to their room. Jimmy unlocked the door and towed her inside the room and over to the corner. "Stay there. Five minutes." He said.

"No way! Are you nuts? Do you really think I'm gonna stand in the damn corner like a five year old?" she said walking over to the bed. Jimmy took her arm and marched her back to the corner.

"I said stay." He said firmly. He accompanied this with several hard smacks to her bottom. Amber's eyes filled with tears.

"I don't know why you're being so mean. I was only sticking up for a friend." She said as she rubbed her bottom.

"Don't rub." Jimmy said.

"Your mean." She said childishly as she kicked the wall. Jimmy ran a hand over his face.

"I don't want to be mean Amber, but I can be if you keep it up." He said. After a few minutes he checked his watch. "Right five minutes are up, turn around. "There were two little girls out there who love you and look up to you and they saw what you did." He said tipping her chin up to see if she was listening. "Do you honestly think that that's a good example to set for kids?" Amber shook her head no. "You're going to be someone's Mommy in about six months, you have to think before you do things. And most of all you have to mind your own business Amber. I don't understand why you're so worried about something that obviously doesn't bother those that it's happening to."

"It just does." She said mutinously. "Any way, no one can tell me what to do."

"Well if you're doing the wrong thing Amber I will." Jimmy said. "And, I think you'll find that Gibbs is about to have a word to you very soon."

"He has no right." She said.

"Sorry Amber, you're part of the family now, which kind of gives him the right. Cemented of course, by the fact that you just PUSHED HIM IN THE POOL. What makes you think that you have the right to push him and he doesn't have the right to correct you?"

"It.......it was a mistake." She said, clutching at straws now.

"Does that mean you're sorry?" Jimmy said, trying not to smile.

"Kind of. I should have thought about it more I guess." She said begrudgingly.

"That might have helped." He said. "Now I suggest you face the corner and try not to upset Gibbs anymore while he's talking to you."

"You should protect me and not let him anywhere near me." She said grumpily.

"And you need to learn one of the main NCIS rules. Don't piss off Gibbs." Jimmy said firmly.

"Hmmmmff!" Amber moped. "I don't know why you're all so worried about what he thinks, even on your off time. He's just a man. I'm not scared of him." Jimmy raised his eyebrows.

"We'll see Amber."

Downstairs, Abby was now not happy with this turn of events. "Great!" she said from her vantage point as Amber and Jimmy disappeared from view. Gibbs turned in her direction.

"Problem Abs?" he asked.

"No! Nothing you'd care about." she said irritably.

"Obviously there is a problem, but I'm not in any mood to play games, so spit it out." He said matching her irritable tone.

"Amber gets away with everything. If I'd done that, you would have upended me on the spot, same as you would Kim or Ziva. What do you do with Amber? Send her up there to get another few fairy slaps from Jimmy. I feel horrible saying that because she's my friend, but Amber's like the princess who has all these good ideas and then walks away while we get in trouble." Gibbs expression softened. He could see where she was coming from.

"Look Abby. Amber's pregnant. Whether you want that to make a difference or not it does. I sent her up there with Jimmy so I could have a chance to phone Ducky to see what's safe. If he gives me the go ahead, I will be spanking her, but it won't be a punishment spanking like you got last night. So if it's revenge you're after you're gonna have to forget it. You're above that anyway, aren't you Abs?"

She sighed compliment making her feeling a little better. "Ask me in a couple of days." And she turned onto her tummy to slide off the seat. Gibbs had to try really hard not to chuckle. Tim really had done a thorough job on her. "I'm going for a swim with my shorts on." She said as she pulled off her Tshirt. Gibbs smiled as he saw her dive in the water and join in the game with Tim and the kids.

When Tony and Zac had disappeared up the other end of the pool swimming with the girls on their backs, Tim took the opportunity to pull his wife into his arms. As he savoured the precious little bit of time they had together he nibbled at her neck sending fissions of little electric shocks through her. She melted against him and when he could see that the kids were on there way back towards them he whispered in her ear.

"It's been a big weekend. I think that Jess should have a nap this afternoon don't you?"

"Oh........ not sure Timmy." She said, finding it hard to think straight as he did delicious things to her under the water, he stopped as the kids came too close, leaving her panting. "If she sleeps for an hour today, she'll be up until all hours tonight. Your pick."

As Tony and Zac left on another lap with their passengers in tow, Tim resumed his previous ministrations. "I pick paying Sarah to mind Jess and we have a nap this afternoon AND an early night." He said into her mouth as he kissed her deeply. They were broken apart by Sarah's droll voice.

"I will gladly mind Jess for nothing if it means that you two will get a room and take this out of the pool. You are soooo gross sometimes Tim." She said. Tim's ears went bright red and it didn't take long for it to spread to his whole face and neck. Kim came over to the edge of the pool with some sun block.

"You should really get out of the pool and put some sun block on Tim you're getting burnt."Kim said helpfully. Abby giggled.

"He might have to wait a few minutes." She said with a smile.

"How come?" Kim asked, not catching on.

"I'll tell you later." Abby said as she darted away from Tim who was even more embarrassed now.

"You better not." He said sternly. Abby splashed him repeatedly in the face to keep him at arms length. "Time for to you to cool off Timmy." She said teasing him.

Before Gibbs went up to talk to Amber, he called Ducky. "Hey Duck. Bit of advice if you don't mind. ......

Up in Jimmy and Amber's room, there was a knock at the door and suddenly Amber didn't seem as brave as she had felt a few minutes earlier. Jimmy opened the door and let Gibbs in.

"Come and sit next to me Amber." Gibbs said gently. She did, somewhat warily. "For a start, not that I'm giving you permission to make it any of your business, but what exactly did I do to warrant being shoved in the pool?"

"You left marks on Kim with the belt." She said quietly.

"And that affected you how?" he said.

"She's my friend."

"Did she complain to you? Tell you that she was scared?" Ask for help?" he asked one question after the other.

"No." she said with her head down.

"Then why do you think it bothered you?" he asked tipping her chin up.

She shrugged.

"Could it have made you feel guilty?" he asked.

"Why should I feel guilty?" she asked.

"Maybe because Abby and Kim got their asses tanned when it wasn't just them involved." Gibbs said watching the emotions cross her face.

"I got spanked too." She said, hating that she sounded like a whiny five year old. "Just not as hard. But I don't think you should spank them that hard."

"That's where the discussion ends. It's not your call. What happens between me and Kim is between us. What happens between Tim and Abby is between Tim and Abby. But I'll tell you something, while you're up here in trouble, fighting for their cause, they're all down there having fun. They're over it. You need to talk to your friends before you go in guns blazing, could be they want you to just leave it alone."

"But....." she started. Jimmy raised his eyebrows.

"NO BUTS!" Gibbs said. Honestly, he thought she'd try the patience of a saint.

He stood up and crooked his finger at her. Amber looked pleadingly at Jimmy who looked at Gibbs. "Amber." Gibbs said sternly. She crossed the small amount of floor that was left between them and he tucked her under his arm. He winked at Jimmy to reassure him that he wouldn't really hurt her. Gibbs lifted his arm and brought his hand down with a sharp slap. Amber started to cry, more from humiliation than anything else. Raising his hand again Gibbs delivered another half a dozen smacks in quick succession, not wanting to prolong the spanking for any longer than was necessary. It was very mild really for a Gibbs spanking but it was really just to make a point. Gibbs pulled the sobbing girl into his arms and hugged her tight. When she'd calmed down he passed her back to Jimmy.

"Now you're officially one of my girls. So watch out." He said with a grin. "I can think of a lot more horrible punishments that don't include spanking." And he disappeared out the door.

TBC


	49. Chapter 49

This is a really long chapter I know, but I couldn't find a place to cut it. Thanks for all your lovely reviews I really appreciate them all.I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 49

On his way back to the pool, Gibbs made a stop at the front desk. Everything organized, he made his way outside to have some fun with what was left of the morning.

"Jethro!" Kim said as Gibbs shook water all over her sun warmed body.

"Come on, come for a swim with us." He said pleadingly.

"Please Mommy?" Maddie joined in.

"I don't wanna get my hair wet." She said.

"NOW who's being a princess?" Gibbs teased as he tickled her sides.

"Stop!" Kim giggled as she tried to slap away his hands. "I'll come but I'm not going under the water."

"Why? I like the natural look." Gibbs said.

"Because, I've straightened my hair and I don't want it to go all curly again." She said.

Gibbs shrugged. He and Maddie took a hand each a pulled Kim over to the pool. Gibbs dove in the water and then caught Maddie as she jumped into his arms. Kim got in by the steps. Very slowly. Tony watched from a short distance away as she sunk into the water inch by painful inch, until he could take it no more. Swimming slowly under the water like a shark, he grabbed her ankles and pulled her feet out from under her effectively dunking her completely. As her head immerged, dripping wet with her hair already starting to curl she spluttered at him in furious indignation trying to find the words that would express what she was feeling. He tried to back away but was stopped by Ziva and had to defend Kim, I mean that was the one thing you didn't do to a lady with staightened hair. Wet it when they asked you not to. Even if it wasn't him she told not to wet it, he knew exactly what he was doing and Ziva knew it.

Gibbs was too busy laughing to be of much help at all. Besides, he thought it might be fun to see his little piranhas all go after Tony. Tony tried to defend his actions. "Isn't it better to get wet all at once than slowly like that?...... I was just........ trying to help....... Really." He appealed to first Kim then Ziva then Abby. The girls all looked at each other. Kim shrugged, she had nothing else to lose now, her hair was already wet. So they pounced on him. They tickled him to within an inch of his life. "Boss?.....Help?" he appealed between gasps of air. When they thought he'd finally had enough, they each got a handful of his swim shorts and gave him a wedgie to make his eyes water. "Boss?" he pleaded in a very high pitched voice this time."Call them off?"

"Ok girls. Enough. Leave him alone now." He said. Ziva shrugged and patted him on the head."You never know we might just need him later."

"We have had enough anyway." She said. And they all swam off leaving Tim and Zac to empathise with poor Tony.

They had decided to have lunch at about one, and they agreed to meet up in the hotel restaurant. Everyone disappeared into their rooms to have showers and get changed.

Everyone but Tim and Abby were seated at the table waiting for them when they arrived. "How come there's two extra places?" Tim said as he sat down next to Abby. Gibbs shrugged.

"What's wrong Abs?" he said.

"We tried to ring Dyl and Ducky and no one answered the phone. Ducky's not even answering his cell. I hope they're alright. Tim squeezed her hand.

"We'll try again after lunch Abs." He said. "I'm sure they're just at the movies or something."

"I guess so." Abby said, not sounding completely convinced. Tim and Abby both had their backs to the door so they were oblivious to the surprise that Gibbs had planned. He grinned as Abby felt her favourite ten year olds arms wrap around her neck. "Surprise Mom." He said. She jumped off the chair and pulled him into her arms. "Dyl! My baby!" she said excitedly. "When did you get here? Are you hungry? I bet you're starving." She fired one question after another, but Dyl couldn't answer any of them as he was still encased in one of his mother's all time famous hugs.

"Mom.......Can't .....breath." he finally managed to pant.

"Sorry baby. I was just so pleased to see you." She said happily.

"Thanks Ducky." Tim said with a big grin.

"Well, we couldn't let the family have Sunday lunch without us now could we?"

Dylan gave his Dad a big hug and waved to everyone else at the table poking Jess affectionately as he sat down. She glared at him. Dumb Dylan, she thought. She'd enjoyed having all the attention to her self and she wasn't quite ready to share again just yet. Maddie looking at Jess seemed to instinctively know what she was feeling and took her hand. She then glared at Dylan as well. Jess was her bestest friend she had ever had and if she was mad at Dylan then so was Maddie.

"I was thinking that after lunch while all you young couples spend the afternoon together, I might take all the youngsters sight seeing and perhaps for a stroll along the beach." Ducky said. "Would you and Zac like to accompany me Sarah?"

"Sure Ducky. We'll come." Sarah said. She looked over at Zac who just smiled. Easy going as always.

So after lunch Ducky took off with the others. They took the McGee's family van so that they only had to take one car. Dylan sat up the front with Ducky, Zac and Sarah in the middle and the little girls scrambled into the very back so that they could talk away from adult ears.

"I think we shall go to the aquarium first kids. What do you think?" Ducky said.

"I love the aquarium Ducky." Dylan said.

"I don't mind." Sarah said.

"Me neither." Zac said. They were holding hands and whispering to each other and weren't really paying much attention to what was going on around them. Ducky smiled at Dylan. "What's your favourite thing aye?"

"Um....I like the turtles."

"Interesting choice young man."

In the back, Jess was still pouting over Dylan being back. "I liked being with my Mommy and Daddy by myself. "Dyl always has to have all the attention to himself." She said grumpily. "See how happy Mommy was to see him. She loves him more. Dumb Dylan. I wish he'd break something of Mommy's, and then she'd be really mad at him and she'd spank him and I'd be the good one and she'd hug me and tell me I was the princess and he was the naughty bad boy that should have stayed home with Ducky." Maddie was listening intently to everything that Jess was saying. After all what were best friends for.

"What if he did?" Maddie said quietly.

"What if he did what?" Jess asked.

"Break something that your Mommy likes." She explained. "Shhh. They'll hear."

"He wouldn't do that on purpose." Jess said seriously. Maddie rolled her eyes.

"He wouldn't do it. We would and then we say we saw him do it." Maddie said, very pleased with her brilliant idea.

"That would make Mommy sad though wouldn't it?" Jess said.

"Well we wouldn't pick her like really most favourite thing. Just something that she likes alot. Like......... I don't know, can you think of anything?"

"Her Ipod? She likes to listen to her music." Jess said.

"That's the thing then." Maddie said. "We'll put it in that fish pond thingy in the restaurant and when we have dinner she'll find it there."

"What if they find out that it was us?" Jess said.

"They won't. If we both say that it was Dylan then it's two against one. We win." She said. Jess had an uneasy feeling about this plan, she didn't know if she felt bad for Dyl or bad because it was wrong. But Maddie was pretty smart at ideas,so if she said they wouldn't get caught then they wouldn't. Of course Daddy did say he would be really mad if she copied what Maddie did again. This wasn't the same though, because they were doing it together and anyway they weren't going to get caught.

The girls didn't even know that Ducky had stopped the car until the side door came open and he stood there waiting for everyone to get out. Zac And Sarah had got out and Ducky stood by the door with his hand out. "Come on young ladies" he said. "The animals of the sea await us."

Jess and Maddie both smiled at Ducky before jumping out of the van next to him. They each took one of his hands as Dyl went to walk next to Zac."Can we have icecream Ducky?" Maddie asked.

"I think we can arrange some ice cream, what about everyone else?" he said as they headed over to the concession counter. The spent a good hour and a half at the aquarium marvelling at the size of the tank and all the different species of marine life. Zac and Sarah mostly found every dark place they could, to sneak in the odd kiss. It was lucky it wasn't a school field trip because if they had a question and answer sheet, the pages would be blank. But hey, Sarah thought. Seen one aquarium, you've seen them all.

As they all filed back into the car, Ducky sprung his next idea on them. "I think we should go to the beach."

"Can we collect shells Ducky?" Jess asked.

"Of course. I just so happen to have some buckets in the back."

Back at the hotel four much more relaxed couples were preparing to meet for a drink in the bar.

Tony and Ziva were already in the elevator when Jimmy and Amber joined them. Tony couldn't help but smile. "Enjoy your little chat with Gibbs did ya Amber?" he asked. Ziva glared at him and punched him in the arm.

"Do not tease her Tony." She said sternly.

"I wasn't! Alright I was, but in a good way. I have to tell you Amber, what ever he did to you, had to be worth it. To see the Boss flying through the air like that because a pregnant little thing pushed him. Wow! That was something to see. I'm proud of you." Ziva rolled her eyes.

"Will you stop Please Tony." Jimmy said. "It took long enough to get her to realise she'd done the wrong th......."

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here." Amber said firing up again.

"Just stop it." Jimmy said. "Or we'll be going back up to the room instead of having a drink with the others."

Amber folded her arms and pouted, but stayed quiet. Ziva mouthed to Tony. "See what you started."

"I didn't mean to." He mouthed back.

In an uncharacteristic move for her, Ziva tried to appease Amber as she might one of the children. She put her arm awkwardly around her and squeezed. "How about we try and forget all about this morning and start again." She said. At this rare show of solidarity and friendship from Ziva, Amber did the only thing she could under the circumstances. She burst into tears. Ziva's eyes nearly came out of the sockets as she searched Jimmy's face desperately for help. He pulled Amber into a hug and over her head mouthed to Ziva, "Hormones." And smiled.

"Do you want to go and lay down?" Jimmy asked gently. Within the blink of an eye Amber's mood changed back again.

"Why? What am I have supposed to have done now?" she asked aggressively.

"Nothing sweetheart. I thought you were upset, I thought you might like to lie down."

"Well you thought wrong. Stop bossing me around." She said and stormed off the elevator as soon as it stopped. The other three all stood staring at each other.

"What the hell was that?" Tony asked in disbelief.

"Hormones!" Jimmy and Ziva answered together.

"Um.... Zi?" Tony called.

"Yes Tony?"

"The whole baby thing? I think we might adopt like the McBrat family. I don't think I want to risk my life living with a crazy ninja assassin that's pumped up with hormones."

"Tony!"

"Really Ziva she's scary!" Ziva just smiled.

As usual the other couples were waiting on the McGees, who were currently still panting and tangled in their bedsheets.

"Tim checked his watch as he pulled a dozing Abby against his chest. We're gonna have to get up soon Abs. They'll be waiting." He said, not wanting to move himself.

"I know. Five more minutes and I'll jump in the shower." Abby mumbled into Tim's chest. He traced lazy circles on her back as he muttered back sleepily.

"Ten more minutes and we'll have a shower together." Abby chuckled.

"Not a good idea Timmy. We'll never get down there at this rate."

Eventually about an hour later the McGees stepped off the elevator to a round of applause from Tony. "Geez McGee! What were you two doing up there? Wait. Don't answer that." He said cringing. "I mean I know what you were doing, just, why were you doing it for so long!? Ok. That didn't come out right. What I meant was.......OUCH! Thanks Boss. Shutting up now."

Abby sat down carefully with a big smile on her face at Tony's antics while Tim glared at him disapprovingly.

"So Amber." Abby said "What was that all about this morning?"

Amber shrugged. "I was just worried."Abby could see that she needed to talk.

"Maybe all you boys would like to go and have a game of pool or something." Abby said communicating the reason to Tim with her eyes.

"Good idea." Tim said. "Let's move over to the sports bar for a while." The rest of the boys didn't have to be told twice and they all picked up their drinks and left. Tim came back a couple of minutes later with a drink for Abby, which he put in front of her before making a quick getaway.

"Ok Amber. What were you so worried about?" Abby asked.

"I... didn't like that you and Kim got spanked so hard that it left marks." Amber said.

"Amber Tim spanked me hard, because I deserved it and because in a way I wanted him to. It's hard to explain, but it's kind of part of our dynamic."

"Like domestic discipline?" she asked.

"Kind of. But I don't like labels. And there's no contract or anything like that, we're just us. But Amber we're happy. Really happy and when we're not so happy we know how to fix things."

"I know but...." Amber started.

"You're not listening Amber. There ARE no buts. Would I have just been up there with my sore ass doing what I've been doing with the man I adore, by the way,for the last two hours, if I was holding in some kind of resentment? My Grammy used to have a saying: 'you don't fix what ain't broke'."

Although Abby was talking to Amber, the others were listening intently. This didn't escape Abby's notice. "Questions class?" she asked.

"Do you not ever feel like McGee is trying to control you Abby?" Ziva asked.

"Not really. Not in a repressive way. Only in things that damage us and our relationship, like lying and what happened here, with Jess. Stuff like that."

Kim wasn't saying very much but that was because this was all so new to her, but she couldn't disagree with Abby's assessment. This was the happiest she'd been in a relationship, and that included the one with her husband.

"I think I know what you're scared of too." Abby said. "Jimmy's taking control and it's thrown you off kilter a bit. You're not used it."

"I don't know if I want Jimmy to take control. I kind of liked it when he did what I said." She said. Abby was just realising how young Amber really was, and her heart went out to her. She was in her early twenties, going through med school with a baby on the way and a changing dynamic in her relationship, not to mention the hormones. No wonder she was having a mini meltdown.

"So you used to be in control of everything and now you're not in control of anything. Does that about size it up?"

Amber nodded and burst into tears again. Abby gathered her in her arms and comforted her while the others looked on sympathetically. When she had calmed down, Abby went in to Mommy mode.

"I'm really sorry to have to tell you this Amber but you can't stop the changes now. They've already started to happen. I can't tell you how much MY life has changed in the last couple of years, first with Sarah and then with Dyl and Jess, and alot of stuff with Tim and me, but I wouldn't go back for the world. Relax and let Jimmy help you. I know it's old fashioned, but it's nice to have someone else take control sometimes. It gives you time to breath."

"And thank your lucky stars that you are pregnant girl, because when you pushed Jethro in the pool, he would have set your ass on fire right out there by the pool if you hadn't been." Kim said smiling.

"Well I was definitely in the camp for you getting damn good spanking." Abby said.

"Abby!" Amber said shocked.

"Me too!" Ziva added. Kim put her hand up.

"Nice loyalty guys." Amber said. "Anyway Gibbs did spank me."

"Pulease!" Abby said. "Wait until you've had that baby and piss him off and see what happens." She said. Amber grinned.

"I don't think I'm that silly." She said.

Ducky and the kids arrived back at the hotel and went straight upstairs. The girls were happy with their buckets of shells and they took them into their room to sort them. Sarah said that when they got home they'd clean them and let them dry and then next Sunday they could make necklaces.

When Sarah had gotten into the shower, Maddie said to Jess. "We need to get your Mommy's room key."

"Sarah has a spare one in her back pack. I saw Daddy give it to her." Jess said. They quickly rummaged through Sarah's bag and came up with the key. The one to THEIR room was on the dresser. Maddie checked that the water was still running and then she pulled Jess towards the door.

"We have to do it now, it's the only time. Ducky said all the grownups were downstairs. We have to hurry while Sarah's in the shower." She said. Jess looked worried but followed Maddie as she snuck out the door and down the hall. It took them a few goes to figure out how to open the door but after remembering what Sarah did they managed to get in. They were really lucky that Abby had left her Ipod on the dresser. Maddie picked it up and put it in her pocket and they snuck out and back into their own room. By the time Sarah got out of the shower, the girls were back where she left them, playing with their shells.

When all four couples got out of the elevator and headed to their rooms to get changed for dinner, they were surprised to find Tim and Abby's door unlocked. "I locked it, I'm sure I did." Tim said.

"You were behind me but I heard it click." Abby said.

"You better go in and check that nothing's been stolen." Gibbs said. As they did a quick check for all their valuables, they decided that the only thing that was missing was Abby's Ipod.

"Strange." Tim said.

"If this was a crime scene Tim, what would you think?" Gibbs said.

"Kids." He said shaking his head. Not again. He thought. "Which one or ones and how do we prove it?"

"I'd lay low for a while and keep your eyes open." Tony said.

"Wait until dinner. I'll do my scary forensic scientist act." Abby said. "Just wait until I get hold of whoever did it. No one messes with MY Ipod."

The girls were dressed for dinner and wanted to go down to the play room. "I'll take them while you straighten your hair if you like." Zac said.

"Thanks baby, that'd be great." Sarah said. They called into to Ducky's room on the way down and got Dylan. He was happy to be going down to the play room too. Zac promised to play video games with Dyl. When Zac and Dylan were settled playing a game, Maddie told Zac that she needed to go to the bathroom. "Ok. I'll take you ." he said.

"Nooo! Zac. Your a boy. Jess and me can go together. Mommy let's us go as long as we're together." Maddie said convincingly.

"Come straight back then. And don't talk to strangers." He said seriously.

"We won't." they called out together as they ran from the room. The games room was right next to the restaurant and they had to pass through it to get to the bathroom, so they darted through, making sure to pass the fish tank on their way. Maddie passed the Ipod to Jess and waited. Jess looked at Maddie and they both shrugged. Jess dropped the Ipod into the fish tank and they ran back to the games room.

"Good girls." Zac said. "You did exactly as I asked." They both looked at each other and smiled.

Abby and Tim were getting ready and Abby was obviously not happy about her Ipod being swiped, probably by one of their own kids. "Don't worry, we'll get it back." Tim said soothingly.

"You know how much I love my music Timmy. How could he, she, or they, take my music?" she said. "Why can't they just behave for like two minutes?" Tim chuckled.

"I've asked myself that many times." he said giving her a hefty pat on the bottom.

"Hey! Damaged goods here Timmy. Handle with care!" she said.

"Still no sympathy Abs." he said.

"I know." She said.

Tim picked up his cell and rang Sarah. "Hey Sar, are the girls there? We need to talk to them. Abby's Ipod was taken from the dresser........ There wasn't any break in. They used a room key.....Looks like it. Thanks anyway. We'll go down there and see them." He turned to Abby. "The only time she left them alone with the key in her bag was when she was in the shower. They're down in the playroom with Zac. Dylan's there too."

"Let's go." She said. "We'll interrogate all the little devils at once. But I know who my money's on. Let's get Gibbs and Tony on the way. They're both really good at reading people too."

"Great idea." Tim said.

The four adults entered the play room and Gibbs took control to start off. "You three sit." He said sternly. "This afternoon someone broke into Tim and Abby's room and took Abby's Ipod off the dresser." Tony and Tim were both watching all the kids faces. Abby was too upset to concentrate. The fleeting look that passed between Maddie and Jess though was a dead give away. Maddie was probably the ringleader, Tony thought judging from the look of defiance on her face. Surprisingly though, Jess was the first one to speak.

"I know who took it." She said looking sideways..... She's lying, Tim thought. "Dylan. I sawed him." Dylan's face was a study. Tears immediately sprung to his eyes and he looked from one to the other of his parents. Abby knew in her gut that he hadn't done this and she was so angry at Jess, but she wanted to see just how far the little minx was going to take this.

"Tim, Gibbs, Tony, can I see you outside please?" she said. They all filed out leaving Zac holding a crying Dylan and Jess and Maddie holding hands while whispering in the corner.

"It was Jess. Well maybe Maddie and Jess, I'm not sure, but I know it wasn't Dylan. Did you see the look on the poor kids face?"

"I agree. It definitely wasn't Dylan. I think we should play along though and see how far Jess takes this and if her usual accomplice is involved." Gibbs said.

"Well I'm gonna take Dyl outside and explain this to him. I don't want him worrying about us not believing him." Tim said sadly.

"For now I think we tell them that the jury's out until we get the forensic evidence back." Tony said. They all agreed. They went back into the play room and Tim went and retrieved a very upset Dyl from Zac. He bent down and said very softly in his ear. "I believe you." And he took his hand and walked out. Jess's eyes followed him guiltily until he disappeared from sight. Dylan was probably gonna be in big trouble now and it was all her fault.

It was almost time for dinner so Abby took Jess by the hand and went and sat at the table. Gibbs did the same with Maddy. The two little girls were sitting next to each other and it didn't go unnoticed by either Gibbs or Abby that they held hands constantly in some form of solidarity. They also didn't miss the glances that shifted between them. As all the others drifted in and joined them, menu's were passed out and orders taken and drinks delivered. Abby glanced at the fish tank and she did a double take.

"Tim!" she screached. "My Ipod! It's in the fish tank!" Tim jumped up and walked over. Taking off his jacket and rolling up his sleeve he put his arm in the tank to retrieve it. Abby had smoke coming out of her ears.

"Abs I'll get you another one." Tim said desperately.

"It's not that Tim, do you know how long it takes to put 10,000 songs on one of those things." She said.

"OK! The jig's up.I know that Dylan didn't steal my Ipod, his fingerprints didn't match. I do have the finger prints of the person or persons who used this key though and I've been down to the hotel lab to get the results. I'm going to count to five and if the person or persons who took my Ipod doesn't stand up I'm going to call the police and let them arrest the suspect or suspects!" Abby bluffed with very loud conviction. The other people in the restaurant were looking at them like they were the entertainment. Or crazy. A little bit of both was probably true. Tony smiled back at them and waved. Welcome to my crazy world he thought. He turned back to enjoy the show. Abby started counting "ONE!... TWO!.... THREE!.... FOUR! ........." Two very scared little girls still holding hands stood up. The table sat in silence for a moment, as did the rest of their now captive audience, while Jess and Maddie shifted from foot to foot.

"Jessica McGee! How could you! Madeline Broadbent,you as well! How could you. Of all the rotten things you could have taken from me. My music?" Abby said. "Why would you do such a thing?" Jess looked extremely uncomfortable.

"I........I......you hugged Dyl real big and you were happy to see him. You love him more."

"That is not true Jess and you know it. This whole pageant was all about you. Dyl got left at home with Ducky and he didn't complain."

"A fate worse than death. I'm sure." Ducky said to Gibbs who covered his mouth to hide a chuckle.

"What's that got to do with you taking my Ipod and dumping it in the fish tank?" she said, trying to hold her patience. Jess and Maddie both started to cry. "Crocodile tears won't help."

Everyone at the table and around the restaurant were amazed at how quickly the tears dried up.

"We wanted you to think that Dylan took it......." Jess looked at Maddie who finished for her.

"And dumped it in the tank." She looked at Gibbs and gave him a nervous smile. You never know. He might have thought it was funny. He didn't.

"Why?" Abby asked incredulously.

"Because then you would be mad at him and spank him and love and cuddle me because I would be the good one." Tim shook his head. This was really wrong. Like really wrong, he knew that, but it amazed him that although Abby didn't actually give birth to this child, she had the same thought processes as her mother. Nobody rationalised bad behaviour like Abby. Except now Jess.

Abby put her hands on her hips. And lowered her face to Jess's. "Well somebody's going to get a spanking and it's not going to be Dylan."

Jess started sniffling. "Mo....m....my?" she said.

"Yes Jess."

"I'm sorry."

"I know." Abby said quietly. "Now eat your 'll talk later."

TBC


	50. Chapter 50

Thankyou all for your great reviews and alerts. I appreciate them all. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 50

Abby sat down and started eating her dinner and she motioned to Jess to do the same. Maddie, who as usual was lacking in the self preservation department, decided she didn't like what was on her plate. She didn't say anything but she kept looking over at her Mommy. Kim mouthed back. "Eat." Maddie shook her head. Gibbs turned to the little girl next to him.

"Problem Maddie?" he said.

"I don't like this stuff." She said grumpily as she pushed the food around with her fork, eventually dropping the fork in disgust.

"You do. It's mac and cheese. You like mac and cheese." Gibbs said as he picked up her fork and tried to pass it to her. She put both her hands under the table. Gibbs sighed. He leaned in and spoke quietly. They had already put on enough of a show this evening. "You're already in trouble Maddie you don't want to make it worse. Eat." She looked at him mutinously.

"NO!." she said. "I don't like it. It has things in it." she said looking at her plate with disgust. Jess was starting to panic for her friend.

"It's nice Maddie look." she said chewing enthusiastically. Tony chuckled at the demonstration of eating and show of solidarity once again. The fact that the show was about to start again made him extremely happy. Maddie shook her head. There was no way she was putting that stuff in her mouth. She folded her arms to show him she meant business as she looked Gibbs in the eyes defiantly.

"Your choice." Gibbs said getting up.

"Stop laughing Uncle Tony, it's not funny!" she said. Tony was so shocked that she'd called him Uncle Tony that he did stop. Didn't help. She poked out her tongue at him which earned her a smacked bottom from Gibbs. Stupid dumb Uncle Tony, she thought.

"I'll take her back to the room." Kim said extremely embarrassed.

"No need." Gibbs said matter of factly. "Just because Maddie doesn't want to eat or mind her manners doesn't mean she gets to spoil our dinner." He said, taking Maddie's hand and leading her over to a corner where the dreaded fish tank met the wall. "You can stand there until we've finished eating or until you decide you want to eat your own dinner." he said. She glared at him but didn't dare say anything else. As she got more bored however, she did start to kick at the leg of the fish tank. Stupid dumb bossy Gibbs, she thought. Wouldn't even let Mommy take her back to the room. Mommy would have rung from the phone and got her something better to eat.

When Gibbs looked up from his dinner, Maddie was gone. "Did anyone see where Maddie went?" Gibbs asked.

"She's gone? How could she go somewhere Jethro when you facing her?" Kim said irritably.

"She couldn't have gone far, she was right there a minute ago." he said. Maddie covered her mouth to stop from giggling. She had crept under the table. Luckily Gibbs had taught her how to tie shoelaces. She'd fix that stupid Uncle Tony. As gently as she could, she unpicked Tony's shoelaces and tied them together.

We can't just let her roam around the hotel Jethro, someone might take her. They'd bring her back, Tony thought. Jess burst into tears. The thought of someone taking her beloved Maddie was the last straw. Gibbs leaned over and took her hand. "Nobody's taken her Jess, she hasn't been gone that long." He said standing. "I'll go and find her."

"I'll help Boss." Tony said. But as he tried to stand, he toppled backwards knocking over his chair and a waiter with a tray full of drinks. The fact that his feet were sticking up in the air with the shoelaces tied together made two things obvious; Someone must have tied his shoelaces together and Maddie was somewhere very close by. All thoughts of not putting on a show for the restaurant patrons now left Gibbs head as he roared.

"Madeline Broadbent! Front and Centre!" All eyes from everywhere inside that restaurant, even the kitchen staff were on their table waiting to see what would happen next. When the tiny little poppet with the long dark curly hair and the angelic face crept out from under the table and walked slowly towards Gibbs, nearly everyone uttered a sympathetic "Awww". Everyone who didn't know Gibbs that is. Or Maddie. Tim helped the waiter to get back up and retrieve anything that wasn't broken and then untied Tony's shoelaces and helped him up. Once he was on his feet, Tony lunged over and smacked Maddie's bottom.

"That wasn't funny." he said. "It was very naughty and very dangerous." Staff came from everywhere to clean up the broken glass and the rest of the mess. Gibbs crooked his finger at Maddie, who looked at Gibbs warily.  
"What are you gonna do?" she asked, finally realising she was in big trouble now. "Can I eat my dinner?"

"Yes." Gibbs said "And then I have something for you to do. Might keep you out of trouble while we finally finish our dinner. But you haven't heard the end of this miss." Gibbs stood up and went and had a word to one of the waiters. He nodded and disappeared into the kitchen. He sat down and looked at Maddie with disappointment in his eyes.

"Are you gonna spank me?" she asked.

"What do you think?" he asked

"Uh huh." She said sadly. Gibbs nodded at her seriously and she started eating, not wanting to make matters worse than they were already.

The waiter came back out carrying some paper and a pencil. Maddie was finished, and her plate had been removed, so Gibbs handed her the stack of paper and the pencil. I want you to write some letters to people saying your sorry. Who do you think they should be to?" he said.

Maddie sighed. "Abby, Uncle Tony and Dyl." She said.

"And what about the waiter?"

"Uncle Tony knocked him over, not me." She said. Gibbs raised his eyebrows. "Fine." She said.

Kim was starting to fuss. "Jethro, she may not be able to write that much, she is only six." Gibbs looked at her seriously.

"She can do her best." he said.

"You could write it out for her or I could and she could copy." Kim said.

"Then it wouldn't be her apology, it would be from the person who originally wrote it." He tried to explain.

"But she's only six." She said.

"Tim, would you supervise this for a moment while Kim and I have a word outside?" Gibbs said.

"Sure Boss." He said sitting in Gibbs seat when he got up. "Who's gonna be first Maddie?"

"Abby I guess." She said.

"Right. So start with Dear. Capital D. e.a.r. he sounded out for her. Now try and sound out A...bb...y. That's right see. New line." Tim continued to help Maddie without actually doing it for her. It didn't take long and she was finished her first note.

"Look Kim, I'm not being mean to her and I'm not expecting more than she can give. I was gonna help her, but I want her to BE sorry not just copy down a note that says she's sorry." He said.

"I know, it's just that....." Kim started

"I swear if you say she's only six one more time, Maddie's not going to be the only one writing an apology note and you'll be writing yours standing up. She might only be six, but that was old enough to help break into Tim and Abby's room, steal the Ipod and throw it in the fishpond after tricking Zac into letting them go to the bathroom by themselves and framing Dylan." Gibbs put his hand up. "I know she didn't do all that on her own. But she was on her own just then. She wasn't too young to sneak under the table and tie Tony's shoelaces together and her actions caused that waiter to fall over with a full tray of drinks. After all that a simple few notes of apology should be a breeze."

"I guess." She said. "She was doing so well, and now she gone backwards." Gibbs opened his mouth. "And if you dare say I told you so, Jethro, you'll be sleeping out there by the pool."

"Wouldn't dream of it." He said pulling her in for a deep kiss. "Come on let's help Maddie pass out her notes and then I'll take her up to the room. Unless you want to do the honours?" She shook her head.

"I don't think I could." She said. "I know it's a cop out but...." Gibbs put his finger up to her lips.  
"It's ok. I have this. When the times right, you'll know." He said.

When they came back inside holding hands, Jimmy looked at Amber and smiled. She was sure that Gibbs was outside spanking Kim. She had been ranting to Jimmy about Kim not even being allowed to have an opinion. Jimmy was glad that she was obviously wrong. He didn't think he could take anymore complaining today. "Guys, I think we'll call it a night." He said. "I'm really tired."

"And what if I'm not tired?" Amber said.

"Then you can watch television or something because I have to go to bed." Before I say something we both regret, he thought.

"Can understand that." Tony said as they walked away. "I have a new respect for Jimmy. She's nuts!" he said.

"Tony. I told you it is the hormones. She will not always be this way."

"No, only for nine months. That's not a long time to live in misery." he said sarcastically.

Maddy had finished her notes and had already given hers to Abby, who had taken Jess upstairs to bed. Next she went to the Waiter who had got knocked over and passed him his note, Dylan was next. He was in the playroom with Zac. He took the note and smiled. Last but not least she went up to Tony. "I'm sorry Uncle Tony." She said as she passed him the note. As he read it he pulled her up into a hug. Your forgiven sweetie." he said. She waited.

"Do you have a note for me?" she asked. Ziva covered her face with her hands to keep from smiling.

"What note?" He said.

"A note to say you're sorry." Maddie said. Tony looked aghast.

"What for?" he asked.

"You spanked me." She said.

"Maddie, I smacked you once, because you tied my shoelaces together and it made me fall over." He said. Her face fell. "Okay...... I'm sorry I smacked you."

Maddie smiled. Gibbs smacked Tony on the back of the head.

"What was that for boss."

"Think about it Tony. If you can't come up with anything, get Ziva to explain it to you." Turning to Maddie he extended his hand. "Come on. We have some things to talk about." He said. "I hope your not expecting an apology from me."

Upstairs Abby sat on her bed and sat Jess on her knee. Ignoring the nagging throb that was fading slightly but still there when she sat. "What you did today, made me very cross. It wasn't just one thing. There were a lot of different things you did that were all wrong. I wasn't only angry I was hurt. You stole from Mommy and you tried to blame someone else, to get them into trouble on purpose. That Ipod was important to me Jess and it made me very sad to lose it. Now I have to buy a new one and I have to put all new songs on it and it takes a long time. What if I'd believed you and I'd spanked Dylan. Would that be fair that he got a spanking for something that he didn't do?"

"No Mommy." She said sadly. "I love Dylan but I didn't want you to be happier to see him and I didn't want you to love him more."

"You have to learn to share Mommy and Daddy the same as Dylan and Sarah had to learn to share when you came along. We love you all the same."

"But I wanted you to love me the best." She said.

"Jess, there's enough love in this family for everybody. Part of that love for me as your Mommy is teaching you to do the right thing."

"You're gonna spank me?" Jess said. Abby nodded. At least it wasn't Daddy or Gibbs. They spank hard, she thought.

Abby stood her up and to the side of her and then tipped her over her knee. She flipped up her dress and taking a big calming breath she brought her hand down with a very hard slap. Jess squealed and threw her hand back to protect her bottom. "Mommy that hurt!" she yelled. Abby steeled herself and brought her hand down again just as hard. Jess started to cry in earnest. Abby found a steady rhythm and tried hard to ignore her little girl's wails as she covered every inch of her bottom with sound spanks. When Jess started sobbing Abby couldn't continue, she stood her up and pulled her into her arms and hugged her as tight as she possibly could while still leaving the child enough room to breath.

"Mo....mm....y. Mo.....mmmy I'm.......so....rr....y" Jess sobbed.

"It's ok." Abby said between her own tears. "It's all over. You're forgiven. I love you Jess."

"I love you too Mommy." She said.

"You know Daddy's still going to have to talk to you don't you?"

"Is he gonna spank me again?" Jess asked horrified.

"I don't think so. But he might give you another punishment."

"Ok." Jess said. Not really overly enthused with that prospect. No sooner were the words out of her mouth than the man himself appeared.

Gibbs took Maddie to his an Kim's room and sat on thier bed. He stood her next to him and kept hold of her hand. "Today Maddie, was really the naughtiest thing you've ever done since I've known you. Stealing is bad. Really bad. But what was even worse was to try and get someone else in trouble and on purpose too. Why would you do that?" He asked.

"Because Jess was mad at him, and Jess is my bestest friend, so if she's mad then I'm mad."

"Why was Jess mad at Dyl?" he asked.

"Because Abby was too happy to see Dyl and she hugged him and kissed him and it made Jess feel bad because she liked having her Mom and Dad to herself like I do." Gibbs had to take a deep breath to harden his resolve after Maddie's little slip of the tongue. He was feeling it himself, they were becoming a family and he needed to fullfill his part.

"So she was jealous and you both came up with the idea to take Abby's Ipod and put it in the tank and say Dylan did it."

"Yes." She said sadly.

"And after all that, you still played up over your dinner and you tied Tony's shoes together....."

"He laughed at me!" she said indignantly. When she could see she might have gone too far she covered her face and pretended to cry. Again with the fake crying, he thought.

"Stop that Maddie, I haven't even touched you yet, I'm gonna give you something to cry about in a minute." Gibbs said losing patience. The bottom line is that you are not allowed to behave that way. And if you do you get a spanking. You hear?"

"Yes Gibbs." She said quietly. He turned her over his knee and brought his hand down hard, making her yelp. When he smacked her again she started to cry. This time for real. Gibbs kept on smacking until he she started to really struggle and sob and then he stopped and pulled her into a hug. "Shhh. It's ok." He soothed. "It's all over now.

"I'm.... sor....ry." she said between hitched breaths. Gibbs picked her up and went to sit with her in the arm chair that was by the window and he rocked her gently until she was calm. There was a quiet knock on the door and Kim came in. she walked over and kissed her daughter on the head and then kissed Jethro. He pulled her onto the arm of the chair and wrapped his arm around her and closed his eyes. What a day, he thought.

Tim sat on the edge of the bed and stood Jess in front of him. "What was all this about today?" he said gently.

"I didn't want Dyl to be here. I wanted it to be just you and Mommy and me." She said putting her head down.

"What you did was very naughty. You hurt your Mommy and you hurt Dylan's feelings and you stole. AND you blamed someone else on purpose. Jess, if you were a grown up you could go to jail for that. Jess started to cry. "Tonight you're tired, so we're gonna leave it. But when we go home, I'm gonna make up a list of chores for you to do to pay for Mommy's new Ipod and you're gonna think of something nice to do for Dylan to make up for being mean to ?"

"Yes Daddy. I'm sorry."

"I know. Now it's time for bed." Tim said.

"I'll take her." Abby said, taking her hand and kissing Tim. Jess leaned over and wrapped her arms around Tim's neck.

" 'Night Daddy. I love you."

"I love you too Jess." Tim said.

Abby pulled back the covers and Jess climbed in. "Mommy will you sing sunshine for me?"she asked sleepily.

"Sure." Abby said. She laid down next to Jess and put her arm around her and started singing "_You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy, when sky's are grey, you'll never know dear, how much I love you, please don't take my sunshine away."_ Abby looked down and Jess was fast asleep.

TBC


	51. Chapter 51

Thank you all for your lovely reviews and alerts. I love them all. I hope that you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 51

The next day, the family all had breakfast together before it was time for them to travel back to Washington. The kids had a day off school and the others had been rostered off to cover the extra day they needed for their weekend. So there was no real rush as long as they were out by checkout time.

So far, the girls had been very well behaved, even Maddie didn't seem to have found anything to complain about yet this morning.

Abby was a bit distracted. She had been sitting with Jess until after midnight last night, waiting for Sarah to come back to the room. She checked with Ducky this morning and he said that they had brought Dylan back to his room by 9:00. So the question had to be asked, what they were doing between 9:00 and midnight. And where were they? Zac had his own room so that was where her money would be. Abby planned on tackling them with this when she could but she knew that Tim would totally overreact if he found out. He had already been asleep when she eventually returned to her room so he didn't know how late Sarah had got back. Abby had a gut feeling about this and she just hoped that if her feelings were correct, that they had been careful.

Check out time was 11:00am so some of them were packing and some were lulling over breakfast. Abby was happy to see Sarah and Zac head outside to the pool. This might just be the opportunity that she was looking for. As she neared the pool area Abby could see the young couple in the pool talking with their faces very close. They were smiling. It was kind of more scary than if they were totally making out. There was no other way to describe the scene before her but intimate. The body language was speaking volumes. Unfortunately, what it was saying to her was 'are you ready to be a grandmother'. Well technically not a grandmother, she would be more of an Aunt but Sarah was as much her child as the other two and the answer was no! She was not ready for Sarah to have a baby yet whatever it wanted to call her. "Now or never!" she said to herself as she took herself out to the pool.

"Hey Abs." Sarah said as Abby sat gently on the edge of the pool.

"Hi Abby." Zac said shyly, not quite meeting her eyes.

"Guys we need to talk. Here's the thing." Abby said. "I need to know........I need to know if you two are having sex and if you're using proper protection." Sarah went bright red and splashed Abby in the face with an arm full of water.

"Abbbby!!" the embarrassed teenager shouted.

"Sarah!" Zac admonished at the same time. "I'm sorry Abby, she's just embarrassed. And she's not the only one."

"Um........not exactly my preferred conversation either but.....look, it's one we have to have. Where were you two last night between the hours of 9:00 and 12:00?"

"What is this, an interrogation?" Sarah asked. "We don't have to answer these questions. Come on Zac."

"No Sarah. It's ok. Abby's obviously worried. Abby, we were in my room and no we didn't actually have sex." He said obviously starting to colour from having to have this conversation.

"But you did do ....stuff." Abby said.

Zac and Sarah looked at each other and then back at Abby. They didn't have to answer, the answer was written all over their faces. "Abby! How could you?" Sarah said, betrayal written all over her face.

"How could I what Sar? Care about you? Worry about you? You AND Zac. Tim and I, we're not the enemy. I don't think you understand that one night, one slip and your life could be changed for ever. A baby at your age can mean no college, no prom, no friends, no partying when your old enough. Having a family is the most special thing that can ever happen to you, if you're ready, but you kids, have to understand, if your not, it can destroy you, and the baby. How do you think we got Jess? We got Jess because her parents weren't old enough for the responsibility. It took six years of her sad little neglected life to find her place in the world."

"We're not any different to other kids our age." Sarah said resentfully.

"I know honey. I was young once too you know. That's why I want you to be prepared when YOU decide that the times right. Because I know how fast things can get out of hand."

"Ok. I'll think about it." She said. "I'm going to pack." Sarah said still upset that Abby had put her in this position. Abby let her go; she wanted to talk to Zac anyway.

"Zac I like you. A lot. But there's something I need you to understand about this, if Sarah does decide to use contraception, the decision about when she's ready is still with her."

"God Abby! I love her. I would never try to force her to........you know."

"Then we're all good." Abby said smiling. "And Zac?" she said passing him a package. "You might want to keep some of these handy." Abby had never seen anyone blush as red as Zac did, or as fast, or as thoroughly. Even Tim. Although if Tim were here for this conversation, there might be a blushing competition.

"Abby there's no need..........thanks." Zac already had condoms but he didn't want to upset Abby or prolong this talk for any longer than necessary. So he took the packet without looking at it too closely and stuffed it in his pocket.

Abby went back up to hers and Tim's room to find him packing. He was gathering things from drawers and placing them neatly in the bags. "Abs have you seen that package of condoms?" he said.

"Um.........yeh.........bit of a story about that." Abby said wincing.

Tim sat on the bed. "Sit. I can't possibly imagine any story that involves a package of condoms that was here this morning but isn't now. However, now you've got me curious so you're not going anywhere until I hear it." He said folding his arms.

"Well, you see it started last night when I went to put Jess to bed........" Abby continued with the story about Sarah not getting back to the room until after midnight and how she found them in the pool, the 'talk', Sarah agreeing to think about contraception and finally her giving Zac the package of condoms.

Tim leaned over and kissed Abby lovingly. "You're really special, you know that?"

Abby sighed with contentment. "I do my best Timmy." She said as she climbed up onto his lap and kissed him. Wrapping his arms around her he deepened the kiss as his fingers trailed down the cross tattoo on her back. He nipped and nibbled down first one side of her neck and then the other. As he started to lift her Tshirt she stopped him. "We can't Tim." She said breathlessly.

"Why not?" he asked as he drew her into a passionate kiss.

"Tim, I gave away the condoms." she said regretfully.

"Shit!" he said as he continued the trail down her neck once again.

"Language Tim." She said chuckling.

"Desperate times call for .........something." he said no longer able to think.

Abby was trying to think about extracting his wandering hands again when she thought, what am I worried about. "Oh what the hell!" Abby said. "We're married."

"You sure?" Tim gasped.

"Are you?" she asked, as they looked into each others eyes.

"Yeh. I am."

"Me too."

Downstairs Gibbs and Ducky were playing ping pong while Dylan and the girls played on the various machines in the play room while the others were all upstairs packing. Gibbs was surprised at just how agile Ducky could be. Zac wandered in holding hands with Sarah who had resurfaced when Abby went back upstairs.

"Hello there. Why don't you two join us in a game." Ducky said. "We could play doubles." Ducky moved over to Gibbs side and the other two retrieved some more bats. Zac got a shock also at just how fast Ducky was at this game. It didn't help that Sarah, much as he adored her, well Sarah sucked at ping pong. So Zac had the ball coming at him from every direction. As he darted this way and that, finally Sarah stood back out of the way. As one particularly hard ball hit the other side of the table Zac threw himself at it and missed, and managed to send himself ricocheting across the room in the process. Gibbs Ducky and Sarah just stared at him as the packet of condoms, an opened package of condoms, went flying across the room. Gibbs made a dive for them before any of the kids beat him to it.

"Kids, how about a nice milkshake." Ducky said as he gathered up each little girls hand. Come on Dyl, I'll buy you a donut to go with it." Dylan shrugged and followed Ducky out the door. Something was going on here but hey, he was getting a milkshake and a donut out of it, so what did he care.

When the room was empty, Gibbs said nothing at first but held the packet of condoms up in front of Zac's face. Zac looked totally panicked.

Finally Gibbs spoke. "Lose something son?" he said as he looked inside the package of condoms processing the fact that quite a few were missing.

"Um.........Sir, it's......it's not what it looks like." Zac said as he held his hands up in mock surrender. "I can explain."

"Can you?" Gibbs said. "I think I'd like to hear that. But I'm telling you boy, it'd better be a real good explanation."

"There not mine. I mean, they are mine, but I only just got them." Looking at the packet and realising some were missing himself now, he ran a hand over his face. Someone gave them to me. Just a little while ago. Like this. Some must have already been missing." Gibbs stared at him stony faced.

"Someone, gave you, an opened packet of condoms?" he asked incredulously. "Did this person have a name or was it an anonymous benefactor?"

"It was ........it......it was Abby." He said. Now it was Gibbs' turn to hold his hands up. Suddenly the penny had dropped.

"Good enough ....well....be careful of those things." He said as he threw him the packet. "They don't always work." He said. When he was gone, Zac let out a breath that he didn't know he'd been holding and vowed to never put himself in a position where he really had to answer to these people.

TBC


	52. Chapter 52

Thank you all for your lovely reviews and alerts. I really appreciate them all. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 52

Tim pulled Abby tightly against his chest as he contemplated just exactly what they had just done. "So.....Abs.....what do you think this means?" he said as he kissed the top of her head.

Abby giggled. "I think I might have had this talk enough for one day McGee. We just had sex without a condom. I guess that means that there's a possibility of a baby." Tim tapped her bottom.

"Ok Miss smarty pants. You know what I meant. Does this mean there's a possibility of a baby because we didn't have a condom? Or, are we not using condoms anymore because we WANT there to be a possibility of a baby?" Tim asked seriously.

"What do you want the answer to be?" she asked.

"We've been so busy with all the other kids that I haven't given it a great deal of thought, about a baby I mean, since we decided to adopt older children." He said. "I'm not opposed to the idea though. Are you?"

"No. I'm not. But I don't want to turn into someone that thinks of nothing else but having a baby. We're blessed already Tim. What if, we don't use anything for a while and we let nature take its course. If it happens, it does. If it doesn't well......."

"Sounds like a plan." Tim said smiling.

"I think so." She said as she started to get up for the shower.

"Wait for me." Tim said as he hurried after her naked form. Abby giggled as he caught her by the waist and carried her the rest of the way.

Zac called Sarah's cell again for about the sixth time in a row since she had fled the play room. He left yet another message. "Sar, please answer your phone. I can explain. Abby gave me the condoms. That's why the package was open. It wasn't me. I mean......" the message cut off again before he could fully explain.

Tony and Ziva had put their bags in the car and were just waiting for everyone else to be ready to leave. Tony wandered out to the pool area and found Zac sitting on a chair by himself typing furiously into his cell phone.

"Problem Zac?" he asked. "Where Sarah?"

Zac nodded. "That's the problem." Zac said.

"You're gonna have to give me more information than that." He said.

"Tony....I.....I wouldn't know where to start. It's so complicated." He said.

"The only place to really start, is at the beginning." Tony said."Now spit it out before I start singing Do Re Me."

Zac sighed. "It started when Sarah and I were.....making out........last night in my room. I know we shouldn't have been in there by ourselves but well,..."

"I was seventeen myself once kid. Go on." Tony said with a smirk.

"Abby found out and she talked to us this morning and ....."  
"I can imagine. Graphic?" Tony said cringing.

"After Sarah ran off embarrassed, she gave me a package of condoms." He said.

"OOoh. No wonder you're out here by yourself. Embarrassing much?" Tony asked, feeling genuinely sorry for the kid.

"It gets worse." Zac said. "She came back out when Abby was gone and we went to play ping pong with Gibbs and Ducky. Anyway, Sarah can't play ping pong so I was playing both of them by myself when I fell over. Then it happened. The packet of condoms, which were open by the way, slid out on to the floor. Sarah took one look at the open packet and took off, thinking God knows what. Now she won't answer her cell and I don't know what to do."

"Man! Talk about the terrible horrible, no good very bad day." Tony said. " But....I think I can help."

He got out his cell phone and called Ziva. "Hey Zi...........can you come out to the pool for a second. Zac needs a favour." He said.

Once the problem had been explained to Ziva, she decided it might be better if she tried to explain in person and then maybe she could talk her into speaking to Zac.

Sarah was busy packing her stuff and Jess's when she heard a knock at the door. Thinking it was Zac, she ignored it. If he thought she wasn't in there maybe he'd go away.

"Sarah!" Ziva said. "It is Ziva. Open the door." Sarah crossed the room and opened up the door a crack. Ziva could see that she had been crying. "Can I help?" she said.

Sarah shrugged and then burst into tears. "I.......I thought Zac loved me." She said sadly through her tears.

"What makes you think he doesn't?" Ziva asked.

"I.........I saw..."

"Him with a used packet of condoms." Ziva finished for her.

"How did you know?" Sarah asked, her surprise distracting her from her misery for a minute.

"I have spoken with Zac." She said.

"Oh My God!" Sarah said incredulously. This was embarrassing enough without the whole family being invoved.

"Sarah, the condoms came from Abby. She gave them to Zac after you left this morning." Ziva explained.

"But there were some missing." Sarah said. "I thought......."

"I think you need to apologise to Zac, Sarah." Sarah nodded.

"And kill Abby." She said. "They are both so embarrassing."

"They care about you Sarah. You are lucky to have them." Ziva said.

"I know Ziva, I do really. It's just so draining to have them so involved in everything. Sometimes it'd be really nice to just be able to make my own mistakes."

"With parents, or in your case guardians, you get what you get. Yours are very hands on. One day when you are older you will see how much they love you. Now we should shut these bags and you can go down and put poor Zac out of his misery."

"Thanks Ziva." She said, giving her a hug.

Jimmy was packing his and Amber's things while she sat on the bed and cried. He had tried to console her, he had hugged her and kissed her and told her how much he loved her and how he was looking forward to becoming a Daddy and a husband. Everything he said made her cry more. He really didn't know what to do next. He really wanted his sweet Amber back. He missed her. This crazy lady who had invaded his fiancé's body, had been moody and hard to get along with for the last two days. Now she was crying non stop and she didn't know why. Jimmy was at his wits end. Maybe he should get Dr Mallard to come and talk to her or maybe one of the other women. Then it suddenly hit him. Kim. She was the only one of the women who had actually been pregnant. Maybe she'd be able to talk to her.

Extracting Amber's cell phone from her bag he dialled Kim's number. She answered on the first ring.

Kim turned to Gibbs. "Jethro, that was Jimmy. Seems Amber can't stop crying and he doesn't know what to do. Will you be alright with Maddie if I go and see if they're ok?" Gibbs smirked.

"Ah.....the crying faze. I remember it well. Go. We'll be ok, won't we Maddie?" he said. "We'll load up the car. Tell Jimmy to bring down their stuff while you have a talk to Amber." She kissed him and Maddie and grabbed her bag and headed out the door.

Jimmy opened the door as soon as Kim knocked. She smiled to herself. He WAS desperate. He must have been waiting by the door.

"Hi Jimmy." she said kissing him on the cheek. "Are you ok?"

"I will be, if I could just make Amber feel better." He said.

"Jethro said to tell you to take the bags down to the car." She said as she winked. Getting her drift gratefully, he grabbed up their stuff and headed out the door.

Kim sat on the bed next to Amber and pulled her into a hug and held her while she cried.

"Scary isn't it?" she said. Amber nodded. "One day you're this happy person who has a routine and zest for life and then out of the blue, everything seems so out of your control. One minute you're over the moon and can't wait for the baby and the next minute you think you're not ready. You want to be a kid again yourself. And poor Jimmy. One minute he's too soft and then next you think he's too bossy. One day you can't keep your hands off him the next you don't want to be in the same room with him let alone the same bed."

"Is that how it was for you?" Amber said.

Kim nodded. "That's what I think sets off the crying, because you know you've been horrible and hurtful and you can't seem to stop yourself. You have to try and remember that he doesn't deserve it. Find a way to distract yourself before you say mean things. Go for a walk or lock yourself in the bathroom and take a long bath. Explain to Jimmy that if you need some time alone that he's probably best to just give you some space. Read a book, ring one of us, we'll help you." She said hugging her tighter as a new wave of tears began. "The good news, is that it won't be for the whole pregnancy. What are you three months?" Amber nodded. "Soon, you'll probably be feeling great. The middle trimester is usually the best. The morning sickness should be gone and your moods will even out, you'll be much happier."

"What about the last trimester?" Amber asked.

"Bit of a lucky dip. You'll have to see. But by then you'll be wrapped up in getting things ready for the baby and that helps. Sweetie you're gonna be just fine and if you need me, I'm only a phone call away."After they talked for a little while, Amber had calmed down and Kim thought it was safe to leave her to shower and change.

Jimmy opened the door a crack and stuck his head inside. No crying that he could hear. That was good wasn't it? "Amber?" he called gently.

"I'm in here honey." She said from the bathroom. Jimmy walked slowly into the bathroom and smiled. Kim must have done some kind of a exorcism, because Amber seemed to be back. She'd had a shower and done her makeup and was straightening her hair. "Amber!" he said in delight as he pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head.

"I'm sorry Jimmy." she said. "I'll try to do better. But if I'm in a horrible mood, you better just give me some space."

"We can try that." He said smiling.

Sarah left the room to go and find Zac, but when she opened the door, she found him sitting on the floor just outside her room. She slid down the wall and sat next to him. Ziva apologised as she had to sneak past them to get to the elevator. "I'll sent someone up in a few minutes to help with the bags." Sarah mouthed

"Thankyou." To Ziva and she answered with a smile.

"I'm so sorry Zac. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. I know I can trust you. It wasn't just that, I have never been so embarrassed in all my life. These people are just.........."

"The most loving caring bunch of non related people I've ever met." Zac said with a smile. "About the condoms, Abby was just trying to help. She also told me that I wasn't to pressure you into anything. They're just for incase." He said

"Did you throw them away?" she asked, with a look of revulsion on her face. He nodded. "Thank God. If the packet was opened and Abby gave them to you? There's only one person who could have opened them. There is NO WAY I would ........Urgh!" she said. "So disgusting!"

Zac nodded. "Let's go pack the car and get out of here." He said giving her a chaste kiss. "Maybe we could stop off and have a quick swim at the beach on the way home."

Sarah smiled. "Great idea." She said happily jumping up and heading into the room. As they were trying to juggle all the bags, Tony popped his head in.

"Need a hand?" he asked.

"Sure do." Sarah said. And suddenly throwing her arms around his neck and kissing his cheek she said. "Thanks Tony."

"For the bags?" he blushed.

"No silly. For talking to Zac and sending me Ziva. It helped a lot." She said. Tony flushed with pleasure. He really did love the McBrats and he would always have a soft spot for Sarah. She was after all the original McBrat.

The others had all packed their cars and paid their bills and were standing around the cars waiting for Abby and Tim. Just as Gibbs was about to go looking for them, Abby rushed out with a massive grin on her face wheeling two bags behind her. "Sorry, didn't know we were that late." She said. "We were.........."

"Time to get going Abs." Tim said interrupting before she could finish. "If we're going to beat the traffic." Tim had checked out and then joined them straight after dragging another two bags. He caught the tail end of her explanation for why they were late.

"I was only gonna say we were packing." She said, dumbfounded that he thought she would blurt out what they were doing.

Tony opened his mouth to say something but was silenced by Gibbs glare. "Tim's right. We really do have to get going." He said. "Drive carefully everyone."

Abby went around kissing everyone good bye. When she got to Ducky, she pulled him into an especially big hug. "Thanks again Ducky for minding Dyl and bringing him down to us. You're the best grandfather a kid could ever want."

"It was my pleasure Abigail, but thank you." The kindly ME said before climbing into his Morgan and driving away.

"See you all tomorrow!" Abby called as their people mover pulled out.

TBC


	53. Chapter 53

Thankyou all for your lovely reviews and alerts. I appreciate all of them. This chapter is the start of a story idea suggestion by Dusty707. I hope you like it :)

Chapter 53

Tuesday morning, the McGee's were having breakfast together. Sarah looked up at Tim who was reading a magazine. "Tim?"

Tim looked over at Sarah. "Yeh Sar, what do you need." He said happily.

"Um, I was wondering if maybe we could revisit the rule about Zac not being allowed to come here when no one's here but us." Sarah said.

Not again, Tim thought. After what Abby told him, he was even more adamant that they shouldn't be here alone. It might be old fashioned, and he knew that they could probably find a way to be together if they had a mind to but he couldn't bring himself to condone it in his own house. He had been young once and he knew that no matter how good a boy Zac was, he was still a seventeen year old boy, and he knew his sister. If they were allowed to have free reign in this house every afternoon, it would only be a matter of time.

"Sorry Sarah, but the answer is no." Tim said. "He's welcome here any other time. As soon as we get home, but not while you're here on your own."

Sarah slammed down her coffee cup and pushed her chair back, ignoring it when it toppled over backwards. Jess jumped and looked at Abby with wide eyes. She hadn't really seen much of this side of Sarah and it scared her.

"Oh whatever! You suck Tim. You really are an old woman. And a hypocrite. Are you really gonna try and tell me that you and A........" Tim jumped up.

"Don't even think about finishing that question." Tim said as his eyes darted to Dylan and then Jess. Getting the message, Sarah stopped but she was still pissed.

"I hate you Tim! I'm going to school." She said as she stormed off slamming the door behind her. Abby raised her eyebrows and Tim shook his head.

"Why can't Zac come here after school?" Dylan asked. Abby grinned at the sudden flush that was creeping up Tim neck and engulfing his ears.

"Because it's a rule." Tim said.

"It's pretty stupid one." Dyl said as he went back to his breakfast.

"Pardon me?" Tim asked, not quite sure he had heard the sarcastic tone in Dylan's voice.

"It's a stupid rule. Now Sarah's all mad and I don't see why Zac can't come here, he's always here anyways." He said stubbornly.

"You're too young to understand Dylan, but Sarah gets it. What YOU have to understand is that the adults make the decisions and you won't get away with being rude, so can the attitude." Tim said seriously.

"Whatever." Dyl said as he pushed his bowl away. Abby bent over and took Dyl's bowl.

"Thin ice Dyl." She said in his ear. Tim glared but let it go for now.

"Go get your stuff for school Dyl, we have to go soon." He said.

"I'm being good Daddy." Jess said.

"Yes you are Princess. Go and get your stuff for school too." Tim said with a smile.

"Ok Daddy." Jess said as she skipped upstairs.

"Ok! What kind of demon blew through here last night and possessed our kids?" Abby asked.

Tim shrugged. "They must of missed Jess. She seems alright." Tim joked.

"I can feel trouble brewing Timmy." Abby said. "Do you think we're being a bit hard on Sarah?" Abby asked.

"Nope! Do you?" he asked.

"I don't know. My gut says no, but I hate it when she gets like this." Abby said.

"Look, while it's not exactly pleasant, what kind of a message would we be sending her, and Jess and Dyl for that matter, if we give in because she carried on like a two year old throwing a tantrum?"

"That you get your own way by throwing a tantrum?" Abby said.

"Exactly. And you of all people should know what that gets you around here, he said with a grin."

"Mmmm." She said with a pretend pout. She wrapped her arms around Tim's neck. "Oh well, we've survived her wrath before, I'm sure we will again. I still love you." She said kissing the top of his head. "Is that a bit of grey I see up here Timmy?"

"Seriously?" he said rushing to have a look in the reflection of the toaster. Abby giggled.

"Only joking." She said dodging the playful smack that he aimed at her bottom. "No time for games Timmy, we're gonna be late for work." She said mischievously as she went in search of the kids.

Tim had a terrible feeling of foreboding at work. All day, anytime the phone rang, he was expecting some kind of trouble from one of the schools. By the end of the day though when nothing had happened he started to relax. It wasn't until they actually got home that he realised what the feeling had been about.

Usually when they got home there would be lights on, Sarah would have done her chores and would be upstairs doing her homework, but today, there was a different atmosphere altogether. There was no lights on in the kitchen or laundry room and there was music blaring from the television in the living room where Sarah was lying on the sofa surrounded by the remains of a melting tub of ice cream, a half eaten bag of Doritos and a couple of empty soda cans. One of those was on it's side with the last of it's contents dripping onto the floor.

Abby rushed over and felt Sarah's head. "What happened honey, are you sick?"

"Nope." Sarah said in a bored voice.

"Then what's going on?" Tim asked.

"Not much really." She said.

Crossing to the kitchen, Tim opened the dishwasher and then went to the laundry room and then came back to the still prone Sarah. "You haven't done any of your chores." He said heatedly.

"No I haven't." Sarah said boldly. "Didn't feel like it." Tim sighed.

"Dyl, Jess go and start your homework please." Tim said. "He knew where this was going and he didn't want it to be in front of the kids." He could see this morning how Sarah's attitude had rubbed off on Dyl.

"Why?" Dyl said. "What did I do?"

"You didn't do anything Dyl, it's not a punishment. You need to do your homework and I'd like you to do it now please." Tim said.

"You suck." Dyl said. Tim swung around and caught his arm before landing a sharp smack to his backside. "Get upstairs right now before I decide that one smack didn't do the trick."

Tim waited until he heard Dyl's and Jess's doors 's non too gently.

"Did you do your homework?" he asked.

"Didn't feel like doing that either."

"Right. Get up now and clean up this mess. Then go and empty the dishwasher and load the drier. And when that's done you can go and do your homework." Tim said sternly.

"Not happening Tim." She said. "If you don't have to do what I say, then I don't have to do what you say." She said childishly, sounding very much like a bratty eleven year old girl.

"Yes you do." Tim said trying very hard to hold on to his patience. Sometimes it was hard to remember he was the adult here. It felt like they were Dylan and Jess poking at each other, except that Tim wasn't just the annoying older brother anymore, he was responsible for Sarah. And it wasn't a responsibility he took lightly, anymore than he did with his other children. "Whether you like it or not I'm in charge, and you WILL do as you're told." He said pulling her up as he spoke.

"No." she said.

"Then we'll do this the hard way." He said as he landed a few hard smacks to her backside. He marched her over to a corner in the living room. "Ten minutes." He said.

"You're such hard ass TIMMY! I'm really scared." She said as she kicked the wall.

"Fifteen minutes!" he said. "Want to go for twenty?" Tim asked as he walked into the kitchen and set the timer. Silence. Thank god she'd given up, for now at least.

Dylan watched all this from the top of the stairs. Sarah seemed like the bravest person he knew. She wasn't even afraid of his Dad or getting into more trouble. She just cared about not being pushed around. Dylan's eyes widened though as he watched her flip the bird towards the kitchen, open the front door and silently slip outside. That was beyond brave even if his Dad didn't see her put up her rude finger. She was really gonna catch it when Dad found out. Dyl got up and went back to his room and closed the door quietly. They weren't gonna here about it from him, that was for sure.

Tim came back in to the living room when the timer went off. Finding the corner empty, he ran a hand over his face in frustration. "Abs?" he called. When she appeared and looked around the room blankly he answered her non verbalised question.

"She's gone again."

TBC


	54. Chapter 54

Thankyou all for your alerts and reviews. I'm not sure if everyone has read all the chapters so you might want to go back and check. My alerts have been down and I've got behind on some of the stories I read. So if it doesn't make sense, go back. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 54

The first thing Sarah did was turn off her cell phone. It really was a pain in the ass having a brother who knew how to track you down at the drop of a hat. Overbearing, bossy, goody two shoes. Sarah had earned some freedom and if no one would give it to her, she would take it for herself. Coming up to a pay phone, she dug around in her pocket for some change. She waited impatiently for Zac to answer.

"Zac." He answered, obviously busy doing something.

"Hey baby." She said. "Can you come and get me?"

"Come and get you from where? Aren't you at home?" he asked.

"No, I had to go to the Library and Tim and Abby are too busy to come get me. The good news is I've got time off for good behaviour, no curfew." She lied.

"On a Tuesday?" he asked. "That's unusual isn't it?"

"I guess, but I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Do you wanna do something or not?" she asked starting to feel crabby again despite her stolen freedom.

"Of course I do baby, but I'm stuck here with the kids until my Mom gets off work." Zac said. "How about we come and get you and you can stay here with us until my Mom get's home and then we can do something."

"That'd be good." Sarah said brightening a little. It wasn't exactly what she'd been hoping for but it was better than nothing. Sarah hid back from the road a bit, while she waited just in case Tim came looking for her.

"What do we do now?" Abby asked.

"I think we should wait for a couple of hours at least. She'll be looking over her shoulder for a while anyway so she isn't going to be enjoying herself too much. Why do you think she's suddenly acting this way again Abs?" Tim asked.

Abby shrugged. "She's in love Tim. They can't get enough of each other. But, it's an important year. She knows how we feel about education. She needs to keep her grades up this year so that she can get into a good college. I can't see her doing that if she's spending every afternoon with Zac, they can't keep their hands off each other. The time for that can come later, once they're both settled in a good school." Tim nodded.

"Or when she's like thirty."

"Yeah. That's not gonna happen Tim." She said grinning. "So we wait a while?"

Tim nodded. "I'll just go and call Tony and tell him we might be needing his services later." He said kissing Abby before he went into the kitchen. Abby went upstairs to see how the other kids were doing.

"Hey Jess, how're your words going?" she asked.

"I'm finished. And I'm almost finished with my numbers too." Jess said happily.

"Good girl." Abby said kissing her daughter's head. "When you're finished we'll read your book and then you can have a play in the bath ok?"

"Ok Mommy."

"I'm just gonna go and check on Dyl and I'll be back in a few minutes."

Going into Dylan's room, Abby was surprised to find him watching a movie.

She frowned. "Homework done?" she asked.

"Na. I'll do it later." He said. Abby picked up the remote and switched off the TV.

"You'll do it now." She said. Dylan picked up the remote and tried to switch it back on. Abby stood in front of the TV. "Don't even think about it."

"Oh, MOM! I was watching that." He whined.

"Dylan, what's got into you?" Abby asked, she was starting to get worried now. "Is something wrong?"

"I just felt like watching TV. What's the big deal?" he said rudely.

"For a start. Your attitude needs adjusting. Very smartly. I suggest you take care of that before someone does it for you. Secondly, in this house, we do homework before television. Now get on it and don't let me here that television on again before you've finished your homework and had your shower. Do you here?"

"Yep." Dyl said, not looking particularly guilty. Abby narrowed her eyes at him before leaving the room to go back to Jess.

When Sarah heard Zac's car coming she popped out from her hiding space and waited for him to pull up at the curb. When the car came to a standstill she jumped in the passenger seat. "Hey Sarah!" came two little voices from the back seat.

"Hey kids!" Sarah said to the two blonde replicas of Zac in the back seat. Josh was seven and he really did look like a younger version of Zac, bar the earing. Dakota was ten and she also looked like a younger version of Zac but she had very long hair, and she was a girl. The both looked at Sarah with eyes that sparkled with mischief.

"Wouldn't it be great to get ice cream Sarah?" Dakota asked.

"Yeah wouldn't it Sarah?" Josh added. Kids recognised a soft touch when they saw one.

"Sure, why not." She said looking over at Zac who shook his head.

"No ice cream. I already told you two, it's almost dinner time. We have to get back and finish the homework."

"Aww Zac!" Dakota complained. Josh pouted.

"That's a bit harsh isn't it?" Sarah said quietly. "What harm can a little ice cream do? I want them to like me?" Sarah said.

Zac frowned. "No ice cream. They like you already." He said with a smile.

"Tell him Sarah." Josh said. "Tell him we want ice cream."

"Zac?" Zac gave her leg a quick squeeze.

"No."

"That's not fair!" they whined from the back.

"Enough. Or you'll both be eating your dinner standing up." Zac said sternly.

Sarah blinked. For a minute there she thought she was sitting next to Tim, the not letter.

After Abby had read with Jess and set her up in the bath she went to check on Dyl and met Tim in the hallway about to do the same thing. She told him what had happened when she went in there before and he frowned. "That's all we need. Another child with an attitude. Oh well. I'm certainly not gonna have a ten year old with an attitude problem."

As they walked in they were happy at first to find Dyl sitting at his desk doing his homework. Abby's mouth dropped open though when she realised that he was still watching TV. With ear phones in.

"Dylan McGee! I said not put that TV on." Abby said with her hands on her hips.

"No you didn't." he said.

"I did so." Abby said.

"You're lying." He said. "You said not to let you hear that TV on again." He said his inner smartass shining through his big blue eyes. "Did you hear it?" Dyl's feet didn't even touch the ground as Tim whipped him off his chair, placed his own foot on the same chair and bent him over his knee. He didn't give him many swats but the force with which they were given had him crying practicallly from the start. When Tim stood him up he let the tears run down his face while he rubbed at his bottom furiously.

"If I ever catch you speaking to your mother like that again, sitting will become a distant memory for you Dylan." He said as he switched off the TV and took the batteries out of the remote, popping them into his pocket. "Now apologise and give your Mom a hug." Abby accepted the hug from Dyl and hugged him back, but something was telling her that something wasn't right here. Dylan did as he was told and then threw himself into his Dad's arms. He hated that he needed them to not be mad at him. Why couldn't he be brave like Sarah? He thought.

When they arrived at Zac's house, the kids jumped out of the backseat and ran in the house. Sarah and Zac followed.

"Where are they?" she asked.

Zac shrugged. "They better be upstairs doing their homework, which is what I have to do. You finished yours?" he asked.

"Mostly." She said. Not, she finished in her head.

"Well I haven't yet." Zac said pulling her in for a quick kiss. Well maybe not too quick, but eventually he pulled back. "Sarah , I have to finish my homework."

"Ok. How about I continue with dinner while you do that." She said heading for the kitchen. As soon as the water came to the boil, Sarah added the pasta and continued stirring the simmering sauce. She kind of liked this. It was like playing house only for real. When the kids came back down after doing there homework, she told them to wash there hands and set the table. By the time they had finished all this, Zac was finished with his homework and they sat down to dinner.

"This is really good Sarah." Dakota said. Zac smiled.

"Sure is. Sarah's a great cook." He said.

"I don't like it." Josh said sadly. "I don't like red food."

"Eat it up Buddy." Zac said or there won't be anything else. Josh continued to push his food around the plate. "Sarah, I don't wanna eat this."

"What if he ate just a couple of bites."Sarah said.

"No. Sarah. He's had this before, he's just playing you. Josh would rather have dessert than eat dinner. Not happening." He said directly to Josh. "Eat your dinner." Josh picked up his fork and started eating slowly. Zac's look told Sarah that it was probably better not to argue anymore but she'd tell him later that she thought he was being too much of a hard ass.

After dinner, Sarah realised that Tim and Abby must have decided to let her cool down for a couple of hours, but she knew that it was only a matter of time until they started looking. She'd turned off her cell off but the next one they'd go to would be Zac's. She had to try and get to it. "Baby, can I use your your cell to send a message please? I don't have credit." She said.

"Of course." He said passing it to her. "Texting your folks?"

"Yeah." She lied without looking up. While she was pretending to send a message, she was actually setting Zac's phone to silent, making sure that it wasn't on vibrate either. She went to pass it back to him but then changed her mind. "If we're going to the movies anyway, why don't I just pop it in my purse?"

"Fine by me." He said as he switched on the TV. He didn't notice that instead of putting it in her purse, she shoved it down the back of the sofa.

Abby and Tim had quite a subdued dinner with the kids. The fact that Sarah wasn't there when she should be had unnerved everyone. Tim was glad when dinner was over and the kids had gone upstairs so that he could talk to Abby.

"I don't understand it. I expected Sarah to turn her cell off, she knows I can trace it, but Zac's usually so reliable. He's not answering his cell at all. It's just ringing until it goes to message bank."

"Can you trace it?" Abby asked.

"Yeah. I think I'll ring Tony and Ziva and get them over here and I'll let Gibbs know what's happening too. Just in case."

"I'll go and read to the kids and settle them for the night." Abby said.

Gibbs answered his cell on the first ring as usual. "Gibbs." He said curtly.

"Boss I'm sorry to bother you, and I might not need you but just in case, Sarah's run off again."

"Any particular reason Tim?"

"The usual. She wants to be allowed to have Zac over in the afternoons after school...... before WE get home. I said no. When we got home this afternoon, she was on strike. No chores, no homework, mouth full of sass. So I smacked her bottom a few times and put her in the corner. When I came back to talk to her she was gone."

"I'm guessin her cell's off?" Gibbs said.

"Yep. And Zac's cell is ringing out. Not like him." Tim said.

"Probably fed him some line about how everyone's picking on her. I'll be right over. We'll figure it out." He said and hung up. Tim smiled. Always had their backs.

Zac's Mom came home from work and said it was fine for him to take Sarah to the movies. She smiled and waved as they pulled out of the driveway. And then went upstairs to see her other kids.

Sarah was happy now. It was just her and Zac going to the movies. Now she'd have his full attention. She smiled and put her hand on his knee. He smiled back and covered her hand with his. When they got there, they bought their tickets and popcorn and headed inside, sitting in the very back row, in the corner.

Gibbs, Tony and Ziva arrived all at the same time and filed inside. Gibbs kissed Abby and told her that Kim would have come too if it wasn't a school night. Interesting, Abby thought. Tim was in the office starting to trace Zac's cell. "Hey." The others said as they filed in. "Any luck?" they said.

"I hope so. It seems like he's at home. Let's just hope that Sarah is with him and she hasn't gone off to some party or other like she did last time."

"Tim I don't think she'd do that. For a start she just wants to be with Zac, and Zac doesn't approve of all that." Abby said.

Tony put his arm around Abby. "He wouldn't. I talked to the guy, he loves her Tim. If she's off doing something she shouldn't be, I don't think Zac knows anything about it."  
"We should go to Zac's house and see what he knows." Ziva said. The four agents took off, leaving Abby with the two kids that were by now asleep upstairs.

Abby paced around and didn't know what to do with herself. She put her cell on the counter next to her in case Tim should want to get in she picked up the house phone and dialled the now familiar number.

"Got your message." She said. Kim smiled.

"Everything ok?" she asked.

"Well they haven't found her yet, but they traced Zac's cell to his house. They're going there to see what he knows. I'm not really worried. Just Sarah throwing a tantrum, she'll be back. It'd suck to be her when she gets here or when they find her, Tim's gonna kill her." Abby said. "It must have been way too long since she felt Tim's wrath or she wouldn't have dared to just walk out like that after the way she acted. The worse thing is that I think it's rubbing off on Dylan."

"Dyl? But he's always such a good little boy." Kim said.

"Yeah, he mostly is, he's not perfect, but hey who is. This afternoon though, he was a real smart ass to me. Kept putting the TV back on, just challenging you know?" Kim giggled.

"You do know who you're talking to don't you?" she said. "Challenging is Maddie's middle name."

"MMMmmmm. Speaking of which, how's all that going?" Abby asked.

"With Maddie and Jethro? It's going great. For the first time ever, I feel like I'm in a real family. So does Maddie......." she said, not finishing what she was about to say.

"Do I hear a but?" Abby asked.

"No. No buts. It's just that I don't want her to get hurt. This is the closest thing to a real family that she can remember."

"You don't talk much about your husband." Abby said. She couldn't really say that she'd looked up Kim's husband's records could she? "What's she remember about her Dad?" Abby asked.

"Not a real lot. She remembers him being in uniform but, it was difficult Abby, for her and for me. He seemed to always be deployed. He'd come back and we'd try to pick up where we left off but it was hard. Then we'd just start to reconnect and he'd be off again. She was just over three when he went away for the last time. You don't have a lot of time to build family memories in three on and off years."

"That's really sad. What about you? Do you miss him?" Kim tried not to smile, it seemed kind of disrespectful. She had loved her husband, but she'd never felt like this before.

"I loved him Abby but I was so used to him being away, of being lonely. Of managing on my own."

"And how do you feel now?" Abby asked.

"There aren't words to describe how I feel." She said, the excitement she was feeling palpable in her slightly higher tone of voice. "I've never met anyone like Jethro."

Abby chuckled. "That's because they broke the mould. Hang on, that's my cell."

"Did you find her?" she asked as soon as she answered.

"Yes and no." Tim said. "When we got to Zac's he wasn't here. His Mom said they'd gone to the movies. We traced Zac's cell to the sofa. The sound and vibrate were both turned right down. Sarah must have hidden it there so we couldn't find them."

"Are you still going to look for her?" she asked.

"No need. Zac's Mom told us exactly where they are. Going to pick her up now." He said.

"Tim?" Abby said.

"Abby please don't disappoint me by telling me not to overreact. She's in trouble. Big trouble." He said adamantly.

"I know Tim. I just wanted to say, drive carefully. I don't want you to have an accident because you're upset." Abby said slightly hurt at his stern words.

"Sorry Abs. Don't worry, Zivas driving." He chuckled.

"Oh! That makes me feel sooo much better." She said returning his chuckle.

"Love you Abs. See you soon." He said and hung up.

"You get any of that?" Abby asked Kim.

"I could here your end of the conversation. They found her hey?"

"There going to pick her up now. She's at the movies." Abs said.

"How much trouble is she in?" Kim asked.

"The worst." Abby said.

TBC


	55. Chapter 55

Thankyou for all the reviews and alerts. As always, I appreciate them all. I hope you like this chapter :)

Chapter 55

Sarah and Zac were oblivious to the rest of the world as they kissed and cuddled in the back row of the old fashioned movie theatre that was their favourite hangout. They didn't really even care what movie was on. It was the only one where a couple of the back seats had been broken making the individual seats into love seats. Well not exactly love seats but that's what they were used for.

Unfortunately for the four agents, they weren't the only two teenagers making out in the back of the theatre. It had taken several false alarms and embarrassing moments for the four to find the right couple in the dark. Gibbs had even demanded to know how old one girl was before he threatened her boyfriend with his cuffs if he didn't take her home right then. Ziva rolled her eyes. Fortunately for her, Gibbs didn't see this in the dark.

When they did eventually find them, Tony got a grip on Tim's arms when he realised that Sarah was somewhat busy. She was practically sitting in Zac's lap with her jeans undone. Her bra was lying on the seat next her, and neither of their hands were anywhere to be seen. Gibbs ran a hand over his face, he had a good mind to just shoot his gun at the ceiling. Short of a bucket of water, it might be the best solution. Ziva placed a hand on Tim's shoulder.

"We have all been young Tim. Do not forget." She said. Tim glanced at Ziva and back at Sarah.

"Sorry Ziva, I have to do what feels right." Tim tapped Zac on the shoulder and the poor boy nearly jumped through the roof. "Tim.......Sir......I" It suddenly occurred to Zac where his hands were. He did his best to extradite them descretely before moving Sarah onto the seat next to him.

"What the hell are you all doing here?" she hissed angrily.

"Are you kidding?" Tim hissed back in answer. "After the crap you pulled tonight?" By the look on Zac's face, he had no idea what was going on. Tim had suspected as much.

"Zac, where's your phone?" Tim asked.

"In Sarah's purse." He said nervously. Tony held the cell up in his hand.

"Wrong!....I'll double your points if you get this one right Zac. Where do you think we traced this to?" Tony said.

"I don't know." Zac said. A bad feeling settling around his tummy.

"Wrong again!.....At your house. Stuffed down the back of the couch. On silent." He said looking at Sarah pointedly. Zac tipped her chin up so that she was looking him in the eye.

"Did you even text your folks or did you lie?" he asked. She forced her head back down. She couldn't look him in the eye.

"I lied." She said. " I knew they'd trace your cell when I turned mine off." Zac's eyes nearly came out of his head.

"Why'd you do that?!" he said although he was starting to imagine the answer on his own.

"I'm sooo sorry Zac. I had nowhere else to go. I couldn't tell you the truth. You would have sent me back home." She said as she started to cry.

"Stop that and tell me what happened from the beginning." He said sternly. When no sound came from Sarah but crying, he spoke again. "Now Sarah." The others all just stood there while Sarah gave a relatively short version of the events, but Zac got the drift.

"Well you were right about one thing. I wouldn't have SENT you back but I would've TAKEN you back and you wouldn't have gone back happy." He said. Tony looked at Ziva and smiled. He'd had a feeling this might go this way one day with Zac, and it looked like Zac was about to come into his own. Sarah better watch out.

Tim looked at Tony. "Can you and Ziva take Sarah home please?" Tim said. "I need to talk to Zac." Tony nodded. "Of course. Come on Sarah."

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here. I'm not going anywhere with you Tony." She said pushing his hands away as he tried to help her up.

"Go with Tony." Tim and Zac said at the same time.

"No! If you don't want me to stay with you Zac then fine, but I'm not going home just because Tim wants me to." She said folding her arms. Gibbs had just about had enough of this little girl's malarky for one night. Leaning over he hoisted her over his shoulder and ignored her pummelling on his back as he exited the theatre as fast as he could. When they got outside though, he tucked her under his arm and landed a good hard half a dozen spanks to her backside. "Now get in the damn car. Maybe it's time you came and spent some time working for me again Sarah, you seem to have forgotten how to do as you're told." He nodded in Sarah's direction. "You gonna be ok with her?" he asked Tony and Ziva.

"Sure will." Tony said as Ziva made sure she got in the car.

"I'm gonna go home. I've been away long enough." He said as he jumped in his car and drove off.

Tony got in the drivers seat and started the car, pulling out onto the road. Ziva looked at him pointedly and motioned to the back seat where Sarah was so livid she was talking to herself, and the things she was saying were not going to help her any with her troubles. Looking in the rear view mirror he shook his head. "Calm down McBrat, you're only gonna make it worse for yourself." He said.

"Just fuck off Tony." She said. Tony pulled the car over to the side of the road and turned around, ignoring the gentle hand that Ziva had placed on his knee.

"Want to rethink that statement and try again." He said seriously.

"Just leave me alone Tony please." She said, getting the point. Her bottom was still smarting from her run-in with Gibbs, she really didn't want to go a round with Tony as well before she inevitably had to face Tim.

"Better" he said as he pulled back out into the traffic.

Now she was going home to Abby, I wonder what kind of reception I'll get from her, she thought. All of a sudden the fight went out of her when she thought about Abby and tears ran down her cheeks. She rested her head on the window and let her mind drift to Zac, the one thing that usually gave her comfort, but not tonight. Zac was pissed, she'd seen it in his face. Why the hell did she lie like that. All she meant to do was let him think that she had been allowed out. But then she'd had to lie to cover that which led to another lie and here she was now with a whole avalanche of lies about to come crashing down around her. How the hell could she ever face him again?

She hoped more than anything that Abby wasn't too pissed at her because she really needed her right now. She wasn't too worried about Tim. They'd fought before and they would again but Tim loved her, she knew that. Sure he would tan her ass and then think of some weird and unusual punishment to torture her with like writing lines, or an essay, that was a favourite. God, what if he did send her back to work for Gibbs again. Now Gibbs was by definition a hard ass. He could be downright scary. Sarah was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't even notice that they had pulled up in front of her house.

Abby came rushing out as soon as she heard the car pull up. Opening up the back door of Tony's car she dragged Sarah out and slapped her bottom. "Don't you dare do that to us again Sarah." She said and then pulled her in to a big bear hug and nearly squeezed the breath out of her. "Come on in and you can tell me all about it." She said as Sarah started to cry again on her shoulder. "Thanks guys for all your help tonight. We really appreciate it." Abby said. "Will you come in and have something?"

Tony looked at Ziva. "Na. Where gonna get home Abs." Tony said. He knew that Abby and Sarah needed a chance to talk before Tim got home. He kissed Abby's cheek and then Sarah's and Ziva followed suit. She gave Sarah a light pat on the cheek before she got in the car.

"It will be alright Sarah." She said. The kind words set her off again with a fresh batch of tears.

Tim had leaned over to Zac and suggested that they go somewhere where they could talk away from all the amused onlookers. They had caused enough of a scene here tonight. Zac nodded. As Tim was now left without a ride, they got into Zac's car.

"Tim, you have to believe me, I didn't know there'd been any trouble at home. Sarah rang me and asked me to pick her up. She said she'd been to the library and that you and Abby were too busy to pick her up. I went and got her but I had Dakota and Josh with me. She made dinner while we did our homework and then when Mom came home we went to the movies."

"I do believe you Zac. But if you're gonna go out with Sarah, you're gonna have to stay on the ball. It's not your fault, she played you, I get that, but if something seems hinky? It probably is."

"What started all this in the first place if you don't mind me asking?" Zac said.

"No I don't mind." Tim gave Zac a quick run down of the events from the morning. "Zac you're welcome any time if I we're there, but not if she's on her own."

"Tim , I'm not suggesting that you should let me come over when you're not there but I think you're missing something. I think that Sarah's lonely. Five days a week if you're at work and sometimes even on the weekends she's not at school, she has to stay alone." Tim put his head down. He felt bad. It really hadn't occured to him.

"Look Zac, I know it's not perfect, but that's just the type of jobs we have. Sarah has to get her homework done. It's college next year."

"I know."

"And Zac, while I don't mean to be indelicate, I could see tonight that when you're alone you're not just holding hands."

"I know, but we're still not........" Zac started but Tim held his hand up to interrupt him.

"It's not about that. It's also about her doing as she's told and not trying to hold her chores and homework to ransom when she doesn't get her own acted like a total brat today and she did it infront of Dyl and Jess. I won't have her behaving that way."

"What if I had a compromise of sorts." Zac said.

"I'm listening." Tim said.

"Well, I don't work at the burger place anymore after school because my Mom went back to work. I mind my brother and sister until my Mom gets home. How about if a few times a week, Sarah came to my house. We wouldn't be alone and I would make sure she gets her homework done." Zac said thought about it.

"Well maybe when she's not in trouble anymore." He said. "But her homework would have to be done. What do you intend to do about her lying to you?"

"What do you think I should do?" Zac asked.

"Follow your gut." Tim said. Zac nodded. Tim handed Zac back his phone. "Call her tomorrow if you like. Although, you'll see her at school anyway. Now, would you mind driving me home, there's a certain little lady who needs a lesson?"

Sarah walked into the house and headed for the stairs. "Not so fast Sar. We need to talk." Abby said putting her arm around Sarah and steering her into the living room. "Sit." she said pointing to a spot on the sofa. Sarah sat but was starting to feel mutinous again as she was being backed into a corner. She folded her arms and pouted. Abby almost laughed. Sarah's whole argument was that she was too grown up to be told what to do and yet here she was pouting like a five year old about to have a temper tantrum. Abby thought she better nip that thought in the bud. "No need to get all petulant Sarah, I'm not the one in the wrong here. You're in enough trouble as it is."

"What's the difference, Tim's not even here." Sarah said.

"No he's not. But I am. You really want to go there, 'cause we can if you want Sarah but if we do, I have to warn you, that Tim will still spank you when he get's home. You really wanna double up?" Sarah started to cry again.

"No. Sorry Abby." She said. Abby sat next to her and put her arm around her.

"It's ok. I just wanted to talk. Why did you run like that? Tim was only trying to get you to cool down,after your time in the corner he would have told you to clean up and do your homework and that would have been it."

"I know. I'm just stupid ok?" she said, tears rolling down her face.  
"No. Not ok. I WILL spank you if you start to call yourself stupid. I'll admit you have some moments where you don't think things through, but hey, this is me you're talking to remember? I'm queen of not thinking things through." Sarah giggled.

"I just.......I can't explain it. I love living with you and Tim I do. Most of the time I don't even mind all the rules, but when I want something really badly and Tim won't let me have it or he won't let me do what I want, I just want to scream. I lived with my own parents for nearly sixteen years and they never worried about were easier in a way. It's just such a battle with Tim AND you sometimes, but mostly Tim. Why does he even care so much. He's got his own kids to boss around now, why does he need me?"

"You really have to ask that question?" Abby said.

"Because he LOVES me and he CARES about me, I know. Couldn't he just care about me a little less?" she said sarcastically.

"Not a chance Hon." Abby said. "In fact, he's gonna care about you soooo much, that you'll be lucky if you can sit at school tomorrow at all." Abby said hugging her tight. Sarah gave Abby her best hapless expression but she was determined to make Timmy listen to reason.

All her bravado left her though as she heard the key turn in the lock and the front door squeak open.

TBC


	56. Chapter 56

Thank you all for your wonderful alerts and reviews. I know I always say it but I do mean it. It really helps if I know what everyone is thinking. I Hope you all enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 56

Tim took in the startled look on Sarah's face as he came in the door. He walked over to Abby and took her by the shoulders kissed her. "I think I'm gonna turn in." she said to both of them. To Tim she whispered. "I love you Timmy, I'll be awake when you come up." Tim kissed her cheek and smiled. "I love you too Abs." he said.

Sarah went to get up as well. "Sit down Sarah." Tim said in a quiet voice. She hated it when he did that. If he would just yell at her she could yell back, but when he did the whole quiet offended thing, it made her feel guilty. Sarah hated being made to feel guilty. "Speak. What on earth were you thinking?" he said.

Sarah shrugged. "Wasn't thinking anything except that I wanted to get out of here. Be free. Have some fun. Be with Zac.I'm really sick of being told what to do."

"Did it occur to you at any point that you were in the wrong?"

"Not really." She said. "I want to be able to do what I want.I'm seventeen. I'm not a baby........ I know what you're gonna say. I'm not eighteen and you and Abby are responsible for me."

"None of us Sarah get to do whatever we want." Tim said. "I don't. Abby doesn't. The little kids don't. We all have responsibilities, to ourselves and each other. Life is like that. There's always someone at the top who gives the orders. What do you think would happen if Tony or myself or Ziva stormed off from work because we didn't get to do things our own way?" Sarah shrugged.

"We'd probably get fired. Tell me where that would leave the rest of you?"

"Ok. I see where you're coming from." She conceded, sort of, but she really just wanted him to stop talking and get on with it. Tim could see that in her eyes. If that's what she wanted, he wouldn't try to help her understand.

"Ok. Here's the way it's gonna go from now on. You're not grounded this time because I have something else in mind. But you will come to NCIS with Abby and I for the rest of the week. You can do filing for Gibbs. After that, your on a sort of probation. You will do as your told. You will come home from school and do your homework and your chores. Abby and I won't ever be left to clean up a mess like you left us today. When your report card comes, it had better be good. Not perfect but good and there better not be any hinky absences. None of this is negotiable. After two weeks if you can prove that you can be trusted, you can see Zac three times a week at his house after school, when his brother and sister are there. On the other two days, you can have the option of having Jess and Dylan staying with you in the afternoon. But you would have to be responsible for them so in return, I will add to your allowance. However, if you at any point do anything to destroy my trust,or Abby's trust, all bets are off and you can come to NCIS with us everyday." He waited for her reaction and wasn't disappointed when tears rolled down her face and she got up and hugged him.

"I'm sorry Tim." She said. "I guess I was acting a bit like a brat."

"Ya think?" he said. "Abby and I, we just want what's best for you."

"I was thinking of going back to Mom and Dad." She said quietly.  
" And leaving Zac?" Tim said surprised.

"I didn't think he'd want to talk to me after I..............."

"You lied?" Tim finished for her? "LOTS?"

"Well yeah. Is he mad?" Sarah asked.

"He isn't thrilled." Tim said. "But that's between you and him." She nodded.

"Are you still gonna spank me?" she asked hopefully.

"Is the Pope a Catholic?" he chuckled. "Sarah?"

"Yeah Tim?" she said.

"You should have just told us you were lonely here. I didn't know. I would've worked something out sooner and you wouldn't be about to get a spanking."

"I don't think I knew that that's what the problem was. I just knew I wasn't happy."

"Talk to us. Don't let things bubble up until they explode." He said.

She nodded.

"Go upstairs and put on your pyjamas. I'll be up in a minute." He said patting her on the shoulder as he went outside to feed the dogs.

Sarah was sitting on her bed waiting for Tim. She wished he'd hurry up. Sometimes the waiting for the spanking was worse than the spanking itself. Finally there was a gentle knock on the door. "Come in." she said softly.

Tim walked over and stood by her bed. "Bend over the bed Sar." He said gently. She did. Tim looked down and he felt like a heel watching her cover her face with her hands. Still, it had to be done. Sarah sucked in a breath as she heard Tim's belt being whooshed through the loops. He doubled it over and raised him arm, bringing the belt down with a hard whack right across the middle of her bottom, leaving a fiery line. That whack was soon followed by another and another none overlapping. It didn't take long before there wasn't a spot left that hadn't had a taste of the unyielding belt. With two scolding stripes added to her sit spots, the spanking was over. Sarah shot her hand back to protect her backside which felt like it was about to burst into flames. Jumping to her feet, she rubbed her backside furiously but her attempts to put out the flames were in vain. Tim pulled her into a hug and rubbed her back soothingly as she sobbed in his arms.

"I'm sorry Tim. You won't ever make me go back will you?" she asked through her tears.

"Go back where?" He answered.

"To Europe." She said.

"Never. Whether you like it or not, you're stuck with us." He said smiling.

"As far as I'm concerned you're forgiven." He said kissing the top of her head.

Sarah stopped crying and looked up into Tim's face. "As far as YOU"RE concerned?" she asked confused. "Who else is there?"

Tim looked like he didn't know exactly what to say. "Well Sar, I think there's a small matter that your boyfriend would like to talk to you about." He said.

"By talk you mean......talk right?" she said hopefully. Tim rocked his head from side to side with indecision.

"Well........." he shrugged. "I really don't know Sarah, you'll have to ask him yourself. He's coming to dinner tomorrow night." Sarah looked at him blankly. She was at a loss for words.

Gibbs arrived home to find at least Kim was still up waiting for him. He'd missed reading to Maddie. It surprised him how disappointed he felt about that. Not just because SHE would have been disappointed but if he was honest with himself, it was one of the highlights of his day. As Kim came to the door to greet him with a kiss and a loving hug, he admitted with a smile there were other highlights in his day now too. Funny how he'd come to think of this place as home. Not so long ago, home was a peaceful night of sanding his boat in his dusty basement, eating a lonely steak or left over pizza straight from the fridge, while he washed away his memories with cheap bourbon out of an old nail jar. NOW home was a warm heart, with his bourbon in a nice glass, a warm meal in his tummy and the warmth of a little girl who curled up next to him for a story. Not to mention the warmth of waking up with the woman he loved wrapped in his arms. Yep, he felt like he'd come in out of the cold at last.

"How was she?" he asked. Kim smirked.

"About as good as you would have expected her to be when you weren't here to read her a chapter." Gibbs cringed.

"I'll make it up to her. I'll read two chapters tomorrow night." He said. "I can't wait to see what happens next in 'Charlottes Web'."

"I don't know that she deserves it." Kim said seriously.

"Did she give you a hard time?" Gibbs asked. Seeing the look on Kim's face he frowned. "What happened?"

"She was angry that you weren't here. She said you promised that you weren't going anywhere and now you did." she said. "I offered to read the story to her but she just turned her face away from me and when I tried to talk to her, she covered her face with the pillow."

"I'm sorry Kim, she obviously thinks I've let her down and it's not really her fault. I'll talk to her tomorrow. We'll clear this up." He said kissing Kim gently.

"This shouldn't really be your problem." Kim said as they walked up the stairs.

"Not even if I want it to be?"

"Jethro?" Kim said.

"Yeah honey?"

"Why don't you move in."

"I think we should start slower. Say with a weekend away first."

"Where to?"

"Oh I don't know......... Vegas?"he said with a smirk.

Sarah lay on her tummy on her bed thinking. What did Tim mean? He couldn't mean that........ could he? Zac wasn't that much like Tim. I know what's happened, she thought. If he led Tim to believe that's what he was going to do, he was probably just protecting her. He probably thought that Tim would go easier on her if he thought that she had a spanking coming from Zac as well. That's what it'd be. It'd be too embarrassing to have Zac spank her. She knew that Tim spanked Abby but, well Tim and Abby they were kind of different. Weren't they? Sarah was feeling really confused.

Tim opened the door of his and Abby's bedroom to find his beautiful wife waiting for him. She had showered and changed. Well if you could call it changing. She wasn't wearing alot. But then Abby wore not much really Tim thought she was the most stunning sight he'd ever seen.

"Bad day Timmy?" she said.

"I've had better, but it's on the up now!" he said smiling.

"It certainly is." Abby said as she wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him into a mind blowing kiss. When they finally came up for air Tim murmured into Abby's hair. "I love you Abs."

"I love you too Timmy. Now why don't you turn off the light and SHOW me exactly how much you love me."

"Now THAT's the best suggestion I've heard today." He said in a low chuckle.

TBC


	57. Chapter 57

Thank you all for your reviews and alerts although there aren't as many these days, I do appreciate those of you who are still reading and reviewing. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 57

Kim's mouth dropped open. "Vegas? With Maddie?" she was confused. Was he saying what she thought he might be saying. "What would we do in Vegas with a little girl?" she asked. Jethro had a spark of some kind of mischief in his eyes that was stirring something inside her. Nervousness, fear, excitement...........hope? As if he were reading her mind he nodded.

"Nothin much to do in Vegas with a little girl..............except maybe............would you like to marry me?" he asked his expression turning serious for a second. He pulled a velvet box out of his pocket and opened it.

"Oh Jethro!" she said as she leapt into his arms.

"Would that be a yes?" he asked, flashing her that smile that could light up the darkest day.

"Yes Jethro. It would be a YES!" she said as he carried her into the bedroom and kicked the door shut.

A while later, with Kim in laying in the crook of his arm, he sighed happily. "Kim, if you don't mind, I don't want a fuss. I just wanna go to Vegas and become a family for real."

"You don't even want to tell the NCIS family?" she asked.

"I know there gonna think I'm being a bastard but I've been married four times. I really don't want a fuss. I just want you. And Maddie of course. If the girls found out, it'd turn into a circus. You know it would."

"I can understand that Jethro." She said although she was disappointed that she couldn't share this with her friends.

"There's one other thing." He said. "You can tell me to bug off if you think I'm over stepping but.........how would you feel about me adopting Maddie?"

"Oh Jethro." She said, not really able to find words.

"Do ya think she'd want that?" he said a little unsure.

"Jethro, she'd be thrilled." Kim said, tears now pouring freely down her face.

"So you're ok with not telling anyone?" he asked. Kim looked at this wonderful man that she now loved. He'd changed her life for the better in so many ways, it wasn't much to ask.

"I don't mind." She said smiling.

"Good. How about, we go to Vegas on Friday night and stay there until Sunday morning and then we can still go to the McGee's for lunch on Sunday. I'll even buy you a wedding cake to take for dessert." He said as he playfully nibbled on her shoulder.

"And who ever said you weren't a giving man." She joked.

"I aim to please." He said as he kissed her softly.

"Really?" she said as she deepened the kiss.

"Oh yeh."

The next day, nothing much happened with the kids at school. Zac was nice to Sarah, but flatly refused to discuss what he was intending to talk to her about that night. She was extremely frustrated with this, by the end of the day her mood was not as bad as the day before but she wasn't exactly feeling like doing Gibbs bidding either.

Nothing exciting had happened at NCIS either. Nothing that they knew about anyway. Although, the Boss had been in a better mood than they had ever seen him in. Interesting. It had been a quiet cold case day. So Tim left at 3:00 to pick the kids up from school.

"Hey Daddy." Jess said bouncing over and giving Tim a kiss.

"Hey Dad." Dyl said as he climbed into the car and sat next to Sarah.

"Hey Dyl." Tim said sticking his head into the car door to give Dyl a kiss. Tim rolled his eyes at Dylan's obviously bad mood.

"Oh good. I can see everyone is excited to come to NCIS this afternoon." Tim said.

"It's BORING!" Dyl said. Oh great, more attitude, he thought.

"Well that I can do something about. I can find you something to do." Tim said. "And Dyl watch your attitude."

Sarah looked over in horror as she realised that Dyl was flipping Tim the bird behind the seat where she hoped that Tim couldn't see. She didn't say anything but covered Dyl's fingers with her own and frowned. That didn't make him happy. He really thought that Sarah would be impressed. After all, that's what she'd done yesterday as she was leaving. Dyl folded his arms and slumped down in the seat, and prepared to go into full pout, he turned his head to Jess and poked his tongue out.

"Knock it off son." Tim said as he spied him in the rear view mirror.

"Why is everyone always pickin on me?" he said.

"No one's pickin on you Dyl." Tim said.

Tim pulled into the NCIS yard gratefully. Time he had a talk with Dylan he thought. Sarah, take Jess to Abby would you please, and then go see what Gibbs wants you to do."

"Ok Tim." She said taking her niece by the hand.

"Bye Daddy!" Jess called out.

"Bye Sweetie!" Tim called back with a wave. His eyes now rested on his son's grumpy face. He allowed his Dad to take his hand and lead him inside the building and towards the cafeteria. "Sit." he said firmly. He went over to the counter and bought a coffee and a box of juice. Sitting down he passed the juice to Dyl. "What's wrong?" he said.

Dylan pushed the juice back towards Tim.

"I didn't want juice, I wanted a soda." He said grumpily.

"Tough. Juice is better for you." Tim said. "And you know that's not what I meant."

Dylan shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Then he shrugged.

"Dylan, I won't ask you again." Tim said firmly. Dylan rustled around in his pocket and came up with a crumpled up note, which he tossed onto the table. Tim smoothed out the note and read it. "But Dyl, we saw you doing your homework last night." Tim said.

Dylan hung his head. "I didn't write what I was supposed to." He said.

"What did you write?" Tim asked his eyes widening. Dylan shrugged again. "Dyl! What did you write?"

"I wrote homework sucks all over the page."

"Why would you do that? You know it's wrong! You knew you'd get into trouble! It must have taken you as long to do that as it would have to actually DO your homework!" Tim said. He lowered his voice,people were looking. Just as well for Dyl. "Why did you do that?"

"Sarah didn't have to do her homework. She doesn't ever let you tell her what to do." He said sullenly.

"Well I've got news for you Dylan. YES she left yesterday without permission, and yes she didn't do her chores and she didn't do her homework when she was supposed to. But she did it after she was brought home AND after she got a really big spanking. Now she won't be doing those things again. Or what do you think will happen?"

"She'll get another spanking?" he said.

"Yes. And she'll be doing Gibbs filing forever." Tim said. "Now this is the only chance I'm gonna give you. You come upstairs with me and you do tonight's homework and last night's homework. Twice each." Dylan groaned. "And Dylan, if I ever see you flip anyone the bird again, I will tan your bottom bare. Do you hear me?"

"I hear you." He said seriously. "How did you see?"

"Didn't you know? Dad's have eyes in the back of their heads that same as Mom's do. Come on. You have lots to do. Now you won't be bored." Tim said with a smile. Dylan didn't smile.

Upstairs Sarah had delivered Jess to Abby and was standing in front of Gibbs waiting for instructions. "No need to go through the rules again is there Sarah?" he said with a smile.

"Um....no...What would you like me to do for you Gibbs?" she asked.

"How about you go downstairs to the archives and file these for me." He said brightly. "I'm going for coffee. Anyone need anything?" he asked.

Four very confused pairs of eyes turned towards him. They were all too stunned to speak.

"I'll take that as a no then shall I?" he asked. As he got into the elevator.

"Well that was weird." Sarah said.

"Uh huh. Tim said.

"Sure was." Tony said.

"Perhaps he is sick." Ziva said.

"I don't know, but just in case he comes back his old self, I'm going down to file these." Sarah said.

When Sarah had gone Tony turned to Tim. "Geez Tim. You must have walloped her good, she's a different girl today." He said grinning.

"We ironed some things out Tony, that's all." Tim said.

"And she got a really big spanking!" Dylan said. Tony laughed.

"Dylan!" Tim reprimanded. "Get on with your homework."

"Well she did! You said!" Dylan said.

"Well that is what happens to children who do not do as they are told." Ziva said in warning as she looked over at his father.

Getting the message, Dyl went back to his work diligently.

Downstairs Sarah was filing when she came across a file that she was pretty sure that Gibbs didn't want filed. The name it had on the front was Maddie Broadbent. Sarah knew she shouldn't but she couldn't help herself, she opened the file. Her mouth dropped open when she read it's contents.

Sarah grabbed up the file and ran to Abby's lab. As she raced through the door she nearly bowled Abby off her platform boots.

"Slow down Sar! What's happened? Tim's not chasing you is he?" she asked looking around Sarah to see if anyone was following her.

"No Abby! I didn't do anything wrong. Gibbs asked me to file this stuff in the archives and then I saw this name so I opened the file."

"Sarah! You can't go opening classified files, Gibbs will kill you." Sarah rolled her eyes.

"Look at the name Abby!" she said. Abby suddenly realised whose file it was. Abby's eyes narrowed in confusion.

"Why would Gibbs have a file on.........."looking over at Jess she decided they'd be better to read about it than talk about it. She slowly opened the file and covered her mouth to stop her scream escaping. "Do you know what this is?"

Sarah nodded. "OK. First I need to copy this." She did so as quickly as possible. Handing the original file back to Sarah, she said. "Can you take Jess up to Tim and get Ziva, discreetly and come back down here please? And put this back on Gibbs' desk. He obviously made a mistake handing it to you."

"Sure. Come on Jess." Sarah said holding out her hand. "Let's go and see Daddy." Jess skipped along beside her, prattling all the way there about school and dancing and anything else that came into her head. Sarah just smiled, her mind was elsewhere. Thinking on it now, she was hoping she'd done the right thing showing the file to Abby.

Sarah delivered Jess and told Ziva that Abby would like to see her in her lab. She casually dropped the file back onto Gibbs desk and mixed it around so that it wouldn't look like it had just been put there. Just in time as Gibbs came back from his coffee run, she escaped down the stairs and back to Abby's lab.

Gibbs smirked as he sat down at his desk. Rustling around, he found the file. They'd bought it hook, line and sinker. Now all he had to do was sit back and wait for those girls to make Kim's day really special. He hoped the surprise of seeing her friends there would be the best wedding present ever. He could have told them and asked them to keep the secret, but he knew that this way, if the secret was Abby's, she would be more likely not to say anything to Kim. Besides, it was a hell of a lot more fun this way. "Dinozzo? McGee? I need to tell you something." And with that he let them in on the surprise, and told them to just go along with whatever the girls planned. Including buying plane tickets. He then got up and went to Autopsy, to share the secret with Ducky and Jimmy. Jimmy was also told not to let Amber know that he knew."

Down in the lab, Abby was showing the file to Ziva when Sarah walked back in. "They are eloping?!" she said in shock. "This Friday?!And Gibbs is adopting Maddie?" Abby nodded her head solemnly.

"And they weren't gonna invite us." Abby said. "That'd be Mr No Fuss man Gibbs. How could he do that to Kim. Expect her to have a wedding with none of us there. Probably expects her to have some strange little loopy lady from the back of the chapel be her witness. Well there's no way that I'm gonna let that happen."

"Abby. Slow down. It could be that Kim wants it this way. Her first husband died. Maybe she thinks it's disrespectful to make a fuss." Ziva said.

"I don't think so, I'll tell you what. We won't mess with the wedding itself, but we ARE GOING. ALL Of US. I have to ring Amber." She said "And book the tickets and find out where the ceremony is gonna take place and we should plan on something a little special for Maddie's adoption too. I'm thinking maybe some kind of a bracelet with Maddie Gibbs written on it. What do you think?"

"I think that you should take a breath." Ziva said chuckling.

"What about a small reception. Just the family. We could .........you know what, I'm gonna ring Amber, because she and Kim have similar tastes in stuff. They're all about the tizz you know?"

"I remember, with the pageant." Ziva managed to get in between Abby's breaths.

"See? She can organise the décor and the cake."

"Abby we cannot take over the whole wedding remember." Ziva said.

"I'm not. It's just a few little details to make the day special." Abby said grinning. Ziva held a hand up to stop her. "We need to phone Amber." she said.

"You're right. I'll take care of that right now." She said walking into her office, talking the whole time to herself.

"What is wrong Sarah?" Ziva asked, when Abby had disappeared. Sarah sighed.

"Gibbs is gonna kill me, isn't he. I shouldn't have shown Abby the file. She's just sooo .....um..."

"On top?"Ziva tried to finish.

"OVER the top." Sarah corrected. "But yeah that."

"Oh well. You know what the good thing is?" Ziva asked.

"What?"

"By the time he is finished killing Abby, he may not have the strength for you." Ziva said chuckling. "It will be fun though yes?"

"It always is." Sarah said smiling.

On the way home in the car, the kids were quiet although it was all Tim could do not to laugh at Abby. She was nearly jumping out of her skin with excitement and she had nowhere to go with it. Sarah was extra quiet, but Tim knew the reason for that. He was curious himself to know what Zac was gonna do. Speak of the devil, he thought as they pulled into the driveway, Zac was already waiting for them. Sarah looked decidedly sheepish as Zac held the back door open for her and the kids to get out. "Hey baby." She said quietly.

"Hey baby." He said back. Tim rolled his eyes and Abby whacked him on the leg.

"Leave them alone. Their cute." Abby mouthed.

"Oh Please!" Tim mouthed back. Abby smiled.

"Ok. Let's get this dinner happening." Tim said.

"I'll help." Sarah said.

"No need tonight Sarah. You need to sort things out with Zac. Why don't you get it over with? You can go out to the garage." He said looking at Zac.

"Thanks Tim." He said, taking Sarah's hand.

When they had gone, Abby whispered to Tim. "What's going on? He's not gonna spank her is he?"

"I don't know Abs. She lied to him. Alot! He's not happy and I don't blame him. I think he's in this for the long haul, and he wants to fix this. He wants to have an honest relationship."

"Fair call, I guess." She said.

"Let's go and make dinner, I'm starving." He said.

When they got to the garage, Zac and Sarah were both awkward with each other.

"Where do we start?" Sarah asked with a shaky voice.

"Well I guess you tell me why you lied to me?" Zac said firmly.

"I don't know." She said.

"Sarah I know you, and I know you know the answer, you just don't want to say it." He said. He was annoyed and it showed. "I want to work this out Sar, but I got to tell you, I won't accept you manipulating your way around everyone and I won't accept you being loose with the truth. Either something is true, or it isn't. If that's too much for you to cope with you need to tell me now."

Sarah started to cry.

"And you can stop the crocodile tears right now. I've got a ten year old sister remember, I'm immune." Sarah sniffed but stopped crying. "So what's it gonna be?"

"I want an honest relationship too." She said.

"Good. Then that gives us somewhere to start. What do you think will happen if you lie?" he asked.

"You're gonna spank me." She said.

"Excellent see? You're getting the hang of telling the truth already."

"That's not telling the truth, that's predicting the future." She said grumpily.

Zac smiled. "Doesn't have to be that way baby. But tonight IT DOES have to be that way. Tonight I'm gonna spank you for lying to me yesterday. The lies just kept coming. Over and over. I won't have it Sarah. I'm done." He took her hand and sat on a workbench. Sarah had tears running down her face before he even started. He pulled her over his knee and brought his hand down smartly on her jean clad backside. Realising it wasn't going to make much of an impression through her jeans, he leaned over and grabbed a pingpong bat off the nearby table. He clapped it off her backside loudly. "Zac!" she yelled. Good he thought. At least she can feel it. He found a steady rhythm and paddled her until he had covered every inch of her wriggling bottom a few times over. Sarah yelled and cursed and pinched his leg, but he did his best to ignore it. But when he heard her first sob, he threw the bat back onto the table and pulled her up into a hug.

"I'm sooo sorry Zac, I won't lie again, I promise." She said as she buried her head in his chest.

"I know. It's ok." He said. "I love you baby."

"I love you too." Sarah said, her head still hidden in his chest.

"Then would you look at me?" he said smiling.

"I can't. I'm embarrassed." She said.

"You're gonna have to come out sometime, we have to go and have dinner." He said.

"Oh God! That's even worse. They'll know." She said desperately.

"I could be wrong, but I don't think any one in that kitchen is a stranger to spanking Sarah. Besides, whatever happens, you've gotta face them sometime."

"I know." She said bringing her face up to kiss him.

"That's better. Put a smile on your face and no one will know what happened." Zac said.

They went into the kitchen by the back door and the family had just sat down to dinner. Tim and Abby didn't say anything. But something must have been said in their absence because before they could stop her Jess said.

"You shoulda outta lied Sarah. Cos when you lie you gets spanked."

TBC


	58. Chapter 58

Thank you all for your lovely reviews and alerts I really love reading them even though I'm really slack at replying sometimes. I hope that you all enjoy this next chapter :)

Chapter 58

Sarah's face went bright red and she looked at Zac with her eyes narrowed.

"I told you they'd know." She said.

Zac shrugged. "I'm starving. Let's just eat." He said as he sat and motioned for her to do the same. She did. Very carefully.

Abby was distracted through dinner. She wanted so badly to tell Tim about Gibbs and Kim eloping but she didn't dare in front of Jess. She knew that you couldn't trust a six year old not to say anything to their best friend about such exciting news and besides, she didn't even know what Maddie had been told. Probably not much if anything, she would have told Jess and Jess would have said something by now.

Finally after the kids were asleep, Abby found Tim who was outside playing with the dogs and dragged him off to their bedroom so she could tell him the exciting news. "If I tell you something really exciting, do you promise not to get mad?" Abby asked. Tim smiled to himself. He could tell she'd been absolutely busting to get this news out all night.

"Depends what it is Abs." he said trying to look serious.

"Well when Sarah was doing filing for Gibbs today, he accidentally put a file with the others that I don't think he wanted her to see." She said trying to think how to word this without getting Sarah into trouble.

"A..n..d." Tim said slowly.

"Well, she showed it to me and I couldn't tell her what to do without knowing what it was, so I read it and took copies so that she could put it back." She said guiltily.

"You took copies of one of Gibbs files?" he asked. "Why would you do that?"

"Um...because....I couldn't really believe my eyes and I wanted to read it again that's not really the point Tim. But anyway, the file was letters and forms and stuff about Friday night." She said. "Really exciting stuff about Friday night. Exciting but a bit mean. Meant to us not to them."

"What's happening Friday night?" Tim asked innocently.

"That's what I'm trying to get out Timmy but you keep asking me questions. Gibbs and Kim are eloping! AND Gibbs is going to ADOPT Maddie! How exciting is that. But you know what Timmy? They weren't even gonna tell us. Gibbs was gonna make Kim get married without any of us being there." Abby said practically without a breath.

"What do you mean WAS gonna make Kim get married without any of us being there. If we're not invited Abby we're not going!" he said as he managed to stop himself with great difficulty from laughing. He knew that Gibbs wanted them to just go along with the girls plans, and he had every intention of doing just that within reason, but he couldn't resist playing with her a little was a little mean but he'd make it up to her.

"Timothy McGee! If you think I'm just gonna stay away from that wedding you better ............"

"I mean it Abby don't YOU think your gonna disobey me on this becau........."

"DISOBEY YOU! Of all the lousy rotten mean.............If you don't wanna go don't. But I'm going and you can't stop me." She said hands on her hips. It'd been a while since Tim had seen Abby in a full blown tantrum but it was coming, he could feel it in his bones. And the vibration of the floor boards as she stomped her platform boots down in anger. Tim had started this and he thought he better finish it before it turned really ugly, so he grabbed her hand and plopped her squirming, angry, cursing self over his knee." You are not gonna spank me Tim. Let me up this minute or I swear to god I'll......."

Tim flipped up her skirt and smiled with appreciation at his wife's beautiful bottom that was framed by a lacy black Abby's surprise and relief, the swat that landed wasn't a hard punishing smack that she was expecting, but a gentler version with just the right amount of sting. It was followed by another and another until Tim had built up to a steady rhythm that instead of fuelling her anger, was relaxing her and fuelling something else entirely. A fire was being steadly stoked but in a good way. As the spanks grew steadily harder, they hurt, but as they became nearly too much he would stop, and rub away the sting before starting all over again. Tim smiled as he watched his beautiful wife melting before his eyes as kept her balancing on that delicate line between pleasure and pain.

Deciding he couldn't take much more himself he stopped. "Are you calm now Abs?' he asked huskily.

"MMhmmm." Was all she could get out as she crawled up into his lap and kissed him passionately. "Timmy I ..........."

"Later Abs, no more talking." he said breathlessly as he tugged her T shirt over her head and threw it on the floor. As his own shirt followed it he flicked off the lights.

A while later they lay peacefully in each others arms. "Are you gonna be a good girl now?" Tim said playfully into Abby's hair in the darkened room.

"After that? Probably not." She said giggling. "So, Can I use your credit card to buy the tickets?" she asked with a grin.

"Why not." Tim said kissing the top of her head. "But you're not to mess with the wedding itself."

"Of course not Timmy." She said matter of factly. Besides Amber's taste is more like Kim's anyway." Tim groaned.

The next day, plans began in earnest. Amber came in to NCIS for lunch and the three girls discussed what they were going to do. They ordered the tickets on line and Amber ordered flower arrangements and a flower girl dress for Maddie, they considered getting one for Jess too but decided that Maddie deserved to have that honour to herself. They were all family, but this was about the three of them making their own little family. That was probably going to be one of the only concessions they made though, as they ordered a cake, a small private room for the reception, a limo to take them all back to the hotel . Abby even thought of special cake toppers. She found a groom, but couldn't find one with grey hair so she painted the hair herself to match Gibbs'. She found a red headed bride and a little girl with long black hair that was meant to be for a communion cake but it would serve the purpose. The perfect little family Gibbs. The only thing that Amber and Abby couldn't agree on was what music the couple would prefer. After a lengthy argument where each of them came out thinking they had won, two musicians were booked, a violinist and a country wedding singer. That's how much Abby loved Gibbs. She wasn't fond of country music. Ziva rang the hotel and organised the menu for the meal at the reception.

By Thursday everything was well and truly organised. All they had to do was keep quiet about the plans in front of the kids in case they said something. Abby felt odd that she hadn't phoned Kim all week but she didn't think she could trust herself to not blurt something out. Little did she know that Kim was feeling exactly the same way. She wondered why Abby hadn't called but accepted Gibbs excuse that she had been snowed under at the lab. Kim had gone on privately organising a quiet no fuss wedding for her and Gibbs. She was over the moon in one way but she was sad that the wedding was going to be just a quick ceremony, without friends. She hadn't organised any music or food for after. They'd probably just find a nice restaurant when they got down there. They hadn't even been able to share the news with Maddie for fear that the little girl would tell someone. It'll be fine she told herself. I love Jethro to death, she thought. If this'll make him happy, it'll be worth it. Anyway it's the marriage that counts not the wedding.

Gibbs could see that Kim was a bit down. He even felt a little guilty. He considered telling her and then thought of how exciting it would be for her to have the special surprise on her wedding day. Na he thought. It'll be fun this way.

Friday morning finally came and Kim decided to keep Maddie home from school. It wouldn't be fair to spring everything on her a few minutes before it happened. Gibbs phoned Tony and explained why he would be late and then he and Kim took Abby into the living room for the big reveal. Gibbs had never felt more nervous. He loved Kim, but if Maddie was seriously opposed to this, he couldn't see how they could go ahead.

Maddie looked from her Mommy's face to Gibbs face and felt scared. It didn't feel right. Her Mommy looked scared and so did Gibbs. Gibbs never looked scared. It must be a really scary thing if he was scared.

"We have something important to tell you Maddie." Kim said. "It's about all three of us."

"Maddie, I love being here with your Mommy and with you. Do you like me being here?" Gibbs asked. Maddie nodded silently. For once she really didn't know what she was supposed to say.

"Maddie, Gibbs asked me to marry him." Kim said. "How do you feel about that?" Both the adults held their breath. Maddie smiled.

"Would that mean that you'll always stay here and you won't go back to your house?" Maddie said.

"Yep." Gibbs said starting now to finally relax. "That's exactly what it means."

"Would you be my really Daddy?" she asked. Gibbs looked at Kim and smiled. This may just be OK, he thought.

"That is the other thing I want to ask you? How would you feel about me adopting you, like Tim and Abby did with Dylan and Jess?" Gibbs asked.

Maddie's eyes went like big saucers. "Then you would really and truly be my Daddy? And would my name be Gibbs like Jess is McGee?"

"If you want it to be." Gibbs said.

"Maddie Gibbs............I want to be Maddie Gibbs a lot." She said with a beaming smile."And Gibbs?"

"Yeh sweetie?"

"I wanna call you Daddy." Gibbs breath was hitched as he answered.

"I wanna be your Daddy Maddie."

TBC


	59. Chapter 59

Thankyou all so much for your wonderful reviews and alerts. I love reading them and I love to know what you're thinking. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 59.

So it was a happy little almost Gibbs family that headed off to the airport that Friday after a really early lunch towards their new life. Kim was so happy with Maddie's reaction to the whole thing she had almost forgotten her disappointment at not having her friends to share all this with. Little did she know what they had planned.

Ziva and Abby had planned the flights so the rest of the team would travel on the flight after Gibbs and co. They would get there later but it didn't really matter because Gibbs and Kim and Maddie would go to the hotel first to check in and rest, as would the boys with the kids when they got there. The girls would go straight to the chapel, luckily Tim had been able to find out which one it was. There they would take delivery of all the things they had ordered. Except for the cake and food, which of course be organised at the hotel by staff.

"The singer should be arriving at 7:00pm and the ceremony is at 8:00pm." Abby said as they were checking there times on the plane.

The boys were sitting in front of the girls and so far were oblivious to the magnitude of arrangements that the girls had made. Not that it was that big, but much bigger than it started off to be.

"What SINGER Abs?" Amber asked loudly.

"The country singer." Abby said with wide eyes. "We agreed that a violinist was stuffy and Gibbs would hate it!"

"That what YOU said. I didn't agree to any country singer. Who wants a country singer at their wedding?" Amber said her face going red.

"GIBBS!!!! It is his wedding too you know!" Abby said getting very hot under the collar.

"But it's KIM'S special day! She would hate a country singer." She said heatedly.

"Getting loud girls!" Tony said from the seat in front.

"Shut up Tony!" they both said at once. Ziva giggled. An alpha male, Tony was not, she thought.

"It's GIBBS' special day too! I don't like country music either but this isn't about us!" Abby said.

"DO YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT?! KIM WOULD WANT THE VIOLINIST." Amber said. "Sometimes Abby you just make me want to scream! You HAVE to have your own way about EVERYTHING!"

"Look who's talking Miss I know EVERYTHING there is to know about weddings! You are SUCH a know it all. This pregnancy has changed you Amber. And NOT for the better!" Abby said with smoke coming from her ears. They were both so busy arguing that they didn't see Tim and Jimmy standing there watching. Tim took Abby's hand.

"Come with me Abby." He said. "If you children can't get along, you'll have to sit separately. Jimmy took Abby's spot and Abby sat where Jimmy had been sitting. Abby folded her arms in a huff. "I can't see why I'm the one that had to move. I should be sitting with Ziva. She's MY friend." She said childishly. Tim rolled his eyes. He knew it was gonna be a long flight but he thought the kids would be the ones to cause trouble not his wife. But then again..........na he should have known.

"What were you arguing about anyway." he said.

"We agreed that the country singer was better than the violinist and she just disregarded that and hired the violinist anyway. Now we have a country singer and a violinist." She said.

"WHAT were you doing hiring either? I told you not to actually change the wedding." Tim said. "Do you EVER listen to me Abby?" Abby gave him a cheeky grin.

"Sometimes." She said brightly. "But Timmy you knew I couldn't leave this alone."

"Well you three girls had better hope that you haven't done anything to spoil it or you'll be sorry. And no more fighting like a pair of children Abby. Your kids were listening to all that." He lectured.

"I didn't mean to but Amber's just looking for an argument all the time I wanna smack her one sometimes." Tim glared at her.

"Lovely talk Abby."he said frowning.

"I said I wanted to. I didn't say I would. She's my friend, my pregnant friend, I would never hurt her."she said.

"Good. Try and remember that next time your arguing. You know what we say to Jess. Use your words." He said with a smile. Abby smiled back.

"I WAS using my words Timmy." She said.

"Use them not quite so loudly next time." He said squeezing her hand.

"Yes Sir !" Abby said as she saluted him. Tim kissed her.

"And keep your smartass comments to a bare minimum."

Jimmy was giving Amber a similar lecture, but she only saw things from her point of view too, but also in the end conceded that Abby was her very good friend and that she would try not to fight with her anymore. Jimmy in return promised to help them reach a compromise with the musicians.

Jess had been happy at first about the impromptu trip. And especially about Gibbs becoming Maddie's Daddy for real. She knew that would make Maddie very happy. Jess had never been to an actual wedding before. She knew what the bride and groom were and she knew what bridesmaids and flower girls and pageboys were. She wasn't happy about the whole flower girl thing. She had seen the dress they had chosen for Maddie and she knew they were going to get her a little basket of flowers and that didn't make her very happy at all. Her Mommy had chosen her a real pretty dress, but it wasn't a long flower girl dress and it didn't have a big ribbon around the middle. And she didn't have a basket of flowers. It wasn't fair. Maddie was getting to be at her Mommy and Daddy's wedding but Jess hadn't been at her Mommy and Daddy's wedding. She didn't get to be a flower girl.

"What's wrong Jess?" Sarah asked.

"Nuffin." She said miserably.

"That's about the biggest nothing I've ever seen." Zac said. "Must be something."

"Come on Jess you can tell us." Sarah said.

"Maddie gets to be a flower girl and I don't and it's not fair because we always do everythin the same." She said.

"Oh, I see." Sarah said. "Jess, you haven't done everything the same. You got to have a Daddy way before Maddie did. She had to watch you with your Daddy and know that she didn't have one of her very own. Today is her special day and it's your turn to watch. OK?"

"I guess." Jess said.

"Promise me Jess you won't throw a tantrum and ruin this for Maddie, that wouldn't be being a good friend." Sarah said.

"I won't Sarah, I promise." She said.

"Good girl." Sarah and Zac said together.

"And you know what? " Sarah said. "One day when I get married, you can be my flower girl or bridesmaid if you're too old to be a flower girl."

"Really?" Jess said.

"Really." Sarah said. Zac smiled. That's why he loved Sarah, sometimes she just knew the right thing to say.

When they finally arrived at the airport in Vegas, they took several taxis to get to their destinations. It was decided that Jimmy would give his credit card to Tim so that he could check in for him and Amber, leaving Jimmy free to go with the girls, they really needed a peacekeeper and Tim needed to get the children ready and Tony was going to help him. Ducky needed to have drink and a rest after the long plane trip. He'd played chess and checkers with Dylan most of the time, only dozing off between turns occasionally during the chess and Zac were sight seeing for an hour.

The girls and Jimmy arrived at the chapel and were pleased to find that the flowers had arrived with the bouquet for Kim and the basket for Maddie. Soon after, the two musicians arrived and sat down with the other four to work out how they could reach some kind of compromise. They found a few songs that everyone was happy with and it was decided that the two artists would play together. By the time it was twenty to seven, the boys had arrived with the kids all of them looked beautiful. Dylan kept pulling at his tie but was happy to wear it because he looked the same as his Dad. It made him feel very grown up. Tony and Tim had struggled with Jess hair a little but finally managed to brush out the knots and arrange it prettily with a bow on the top of her head. Abby wasn't too sure about the bow, and there were ALOT of wrinkles in her white tights, but she could see that Tim was rather proud of his efforts, so she decided to let it go. Sarah and Zac arrived together holding hands as usual. Tim and Tony passed the others their clothes so that they could go back and get changed had managed to change the time of the service for fifteen minutes to allow them to change Maddie into her flower girls dress. The others sat quietly in the chapel waiting for Kim and Gibbs and Maddie to arrive. By the time the Jimmy and Amber and Abby and Ziva had gotten ready and come back out, a little girls voice told them that it was time. They arranged themselves neatly in the pews and waited. As Gibbs opened the door of the chapel and waited for Kim to enter he smiled at the sight of all their family. He stood back and waited eagerly for Kim to discover her surprise.

Kim's eyes flew around the chapel that was now transformed form tacky to tasteful with the lovely flower arrangements that adorned every pew and the arch at the front of the small room. But the main thing that brought the tears to her eyes was the smiling face of their NCIS family, all so happy and proud to be witness to this momentous event.

Abby quickly ushered a stunned Kim and Maddie out back where the the flower girl dress was waiting along with the basket of rose petals. Amber then popped her head in and produced another surprise. It was a garment bag, and inside was the most beautiful wedding dress that Kim had ever seen. Tears rolled freely down her cheeks as she could no longer hold in her emotions. Never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined that this day would turn out like this. But there was no time for sentimentality now. Abby changed Maddie and Amber helped Kim. Ziva appeared out of nowhere and fixed Kim's makeup. When they were all ready their was a gentle knock on the door and Ducky poked his head in. "It's time ladies." He said. The others kissed Kim and Maddie and went to take their places in the chapel.

As Kim and Maddie walked through the doors, the music started to play and Abby and Amber looked at each other. It was beautiful. Who would have thought that two people so different, could blend to make such beautiful music. The lyrics of the song coming from the gruff man's voice blended with the sweet perfect pitch of the violin and it was mesmerizing. There wasn't a dry eye in the house. As the music played 'You needed me'.

I cried a tear  
You wiped it dry  
I was confused  
You cleared my mind  
I sold my soul  
You bought it back for me  
And held me up and gave me dignity  
Somehow you needed me.

Chorus  
You gave me strengthTo stand alone again  
To face the world  
Out on my own again  
You put me high upon a pedestal  
So high that I could almost see eternity  
You needed me  
You needed me

And I can't believe it's you I can't believe it's true  
I needed you and you were there  
And I'll never leave, why should I leave  
I'd be a fool  
'Cause I've finally found someone who really cares

You held my hand  
When it was cold  
When I was lost  
You took me home  
You gave me hope  
When I was at the end  
And turned my lies  
Back into truth again  
You even called me friend

You gave me strength

To stand alone again  
To face the world  
Out on my own again  
You put me high upon a pedestal  
So high that I could almost see eternity  
You needed me  
You needed me

You needed me  
You needed me

It was kind of fitting really that it was Maddie that walked her Mommy down the isle, tossing the rose petals as she went. It had been the two of them for so long and now, they weren't alone anymore.

Gibbs took some deep breaths to keep himself under control. It had been along time since his heart had felt so light. Since he'd felt so happy that sentiment threatened to take over and render him a useless mess. But even so, he was so glad he'd allowed the girls to interfere. They had made this day special, not only for Kim and Maddie but for him too. They were all his family and he loved them.

As the music had started, it had nearly tipped him over the was already feeling overwhelmed with emotion after the signing of Maddie's adoption papers that afternoon. But watching as his beautiful red headed spitfire walked towards him, and the truth of the lyrics swirled in his head, tears balanced precariously close to the edge of his lashes. He had to blink several times to clear his vision. Not because he was afraid to show emotion, but because he didn't want to miss a moment of this day.

After they had said their vows and signed the paper work. Gibbs picked up Maddie and with his arm around his new bride they left the chapel followed by their animated family. The violinist and the country singer belted out the Beatles classic 'Here comes the Sun'. Jess and Dylan happily threw rice and Gibbs put Maddie down so they she could join in the fun. All tears were now forgotten as the family rejoiced.

While the others piled into the waiting limos, Abby ducked back inside. They had been so impressed with odd match of the musicians that she asked them to join the family at the reception.

"Abs!" Tim called from the front of the chapel. "The cars are leaving."

"Keep your shirt on Tim, I've just been arranging for the musicians to come to the reception."

"What kind of reception are we having? I thought we're just gonna eat at the hotel. " he said.  
"Well we are kind of." She said as she started moving towards the front. We just hired a small private room that's all and a menu and flowers and stuff, a cake."

"Exactly how much is all this stuff costing Abby?" Tim asked.

"You're not telling me you actually begrudge Gibbs a small wedding are you?" Abby asked incredulously.

"Of course not, but we've had the discussion Abby about overspending." Tim said.

"Don't worry. It isn't just us. We're splitting it. It's not that much between all of us." She said.

"OK.......... Let's go and party then." He said with a smile.

"It was beautiful wasn't it?" she asked.

"Abby it was one of the nicest weddings I've ever been to, besides ours." He said as he put his arm around her to hurry her along. "You girls did a great job."

"We're not finished yet Timmy!" she said happily.

TBC


	60. Chapter 60

Thankyou everyone for your reviews and alerts. I appreciate it that you take the time to review. It means a lot. I also love to know what you're all thinking. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, I apologise if you find all the lyrics irritating, I won't be offended if you skip over them. Well I won't know, but if I did know, I wouldn't mind. Enjoy :)

Chapter 60

When the family arrived at the hotel, they were ushered up to the small private room that the girls had organised for their intimate family celebration. They were served drinks and nibbles while they were waiting to be seated at the large table that had been set beautifully for the wedding dinner. When Ziva had organized the seating plan, she had opted for a more family feel, with Gibbs and Kim in the center,Maddie next to her new Daddy and everyone else scattered around the table as they wished.

As they feasted on all the delectable courses that Ziva had ordered, they chattered and laughed amongst themselves, while listening to an eclectic array of music for a Juke Box that Abby had arranged.

Kim leaned in to Gibbs and whispered in his ear. "Are you happy Jethro?" Gibbs' eyes filled.

"There are no words." He said as he kissed her tenderly. Kim kissed him on the corner of his mouth and absolutely beamed.

"I know."

Tony was watching this exchange thoughtfully. He was enormously touched by this tender scene and the sheer incredulity that the boss had found love again so randomly. I guess when it's meant to be, he thought as his own eyes started to fill. BUT, enough of all this damn blubbering, this is a celebration. Time we got some entertainment happening. He ducked outside and had a word to the musicians that were waiting for a cue.

Inside the party was threatening to turn ugly, when Dylan accidentally on purpose put the miniature umbrella from Jess's fancy drink up and down so many times that it broke.

"I hate you Dylan." She said as burst into tears and whacked him on the leg.

Not to be outdone, Dylan actually drank the drink and ate the cherry. Poking it out on the end of his tongue to make sure she knew he had it. And then warbling out with his mouth full. "Bite me."

Jess then retaliated by doing just that and biting him on the arm. Dylan opened his mouth and screamed. Abby had been gradually teaching the kids some sign language for just this sort of occasion and it came in handy now as she signed. "Knock it off right now you two or I'll send you outside for a talk with your Dad and you won't come back happy." They both looked at Tim who nodded and they stopped.

Jimmy leaned in to Amber and said. "Before this baby gets older, I wanna learn how to do that. I thought there was gonna be a brawl."

Amber giggled. "It would have been just like Sunday lunch." She said.

Tony took his seat again at the table and the gruff sounding man came on the microphone. "It's time for the Bride and Groom's first dance." And the music started . Who would have thought that this odd pair could do such a beautiful version of the Beatles 'Here, There, and Everywhere.'

To lead a better life I need my love to be here...

Here, making each day of the year  
Changing my life with a wave of her hand  
Nobody can deny that there's something there

There, running my hands through her hair  
Both of us thinking how good it can be  
Someone is speaking but she doesn't know he's there

I want her everywhere and if she's beside me  
I know I need never care  
But to love her is to need her everywhere  
Knowing that love is to share

Each one believing that love never dies  
Watching her eyes and hoping I'm always there

I want her everywhere and if she's beside me  
I know I need never care  
But to love her is to need her everywhere  
Knowing that love is to share

Each one believing that love never dies  
Watching her eyes and hoping I'm always there

To be there and everywhere  
Here, there and everywhere

After the first verse the other couples joined in. Abby and Tim, Sarah and Zac, Amber and Jimmy, Ducky and Maddie and then finally Ziva and Tony. There had been a slight altercation which was settled when Tony paid Dylan five dollars, he then agreed to dance with his sister.

"Tony!" Ziva admonished. "That was not right." She said with a grin.

"I know, I would have held out for at least twenty." he said wiggling his eyebrows at her. She slapped him playfully on the chest as they danced.

"I love you Tony." She said.  
"I love you too Ziva." He said seriously.

As the first dance drew to a finish, some of the couples sat down and the Daddy daughter dance was announced. Gibbs proudly took Maddie in his arms as the dance began. The music was; 'What a Wonderful World'.

I see trees of green, red roses too  
I see them bloom for me and you  
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue and clouds of white  
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night  
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky  
Are also on the faces of people going by  
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do  
They're really saying I love you.

I hear babies cry, I watch them grow  
They'll learn much more than I'll never know  
And I think to myself what a wonderful world  
Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world.

After the first chorus Tim stood up with Jess and Abby dragged an unwilling Dylan to the dance floor. Ducky asked Kim to dance and Tony danced with Sarah, who was looking a little lost. As that song ended Gibbs sat down to spend some quiet time with Kim and Maddie while the musicians took a break and Abby and Tony fired up the Juke Box. The poor thing didn't know what had hit it alternating between Frank Sinatra and heavy rock. "I can't believe that a Juke Box doesn't have plastic death." Abby said incredulously.

"I can." Tony said. "Who plays Plastic Death at their wedding?"

"I DID!" Abby said as she punched him in the arm.

"Yeah but you married McSnooze over there." Tony said inclining his head to Tim who was deep in conversation with Dylan."Something had to keep you awake. Uh Oh!" Tony said. Tim was marching towards them and Tim was holding out five dollars.

"What Uh OH!" Abby said but stopped as Tim arrived.  
"Tony, did you pay Dyl five dollars to dance with his sister?" Tim said holding out the offending notes.

"What was I supposed to do? The little McBrat was about to melt down and Dylan was staging a stand in."Tony said.

"Tony, I know you meant well but you don't reward kids for bad behaviour." Tim said self righteously.

"Sorry Tim." Abby said "But if it's in the middle of someone's important wedding dance, then you do. And then you take it back later or make him donate it to charity or something." Tim rolled his eyes.

"Ab........." he started.

"Not getting into it Timmy. Time for dancing not lectures." She said as she dragged him onto the dance floor. After a few songs of dancing very up close and personal the five dollars completely left Tim's mind. Gibbs and everyone else were again on the dance floor bouncing together to 'Crazy Little Thing' and 'Wild thing.' When a couple of Tony's choices came on they danced to 'My Way', with great difficulty, they mostly watched Tony lip sync to that and 'I won't Dance.'

The crowd favourite for the night though had to be 'We are family.'

We are family  
I got all my sisters with me  
We are family  
Get up ev'rybody and sing

Ev'ryone can see we're together  
As we walk on by  
(FLY!) and we fly just like birds of a feather  
I won't tell no lie  
(ALL!) all of the people around us they say  
Can they be that close  
Just let me state for the record  
We're giving love in a family dose

(CHORUS x2)

Living life is fun and we've just begun  
To get our share of the world's delights  
(HIGH!) high hopes we have for the future  
And our goal's in sight  
(WE!) no we don't get depressed  
Here's what we call our golden rule  
Have faith in you and the things you do  
You won't go wrong  
This is our family Jewel

After all the dancing, dessert was served and they all sat down.

Dyl spoke to his mother on the other side of the table. "Mom, can I have two desserts?"

"No honey, one's enough. You'll be sick. You've already had too many of those drinks." She said."And there's cake."

"No I haven't." he argued."I only had three drinks."  
"Five and it's not a debate Dyl." Tim said as he took Abby hand and kissed it. He turned to the woman who had been his life for a long time. The wine and the atmosphere had made him feel a little sentimental. "I've had the best time tonight Abs. You and the girls out did your selves." he said as he gazed into her eyes lovingly.

"Thanks Timmy, do you think Gibbs and Kim and Maddie had a good time?" she asked.

"I know they did Abs. You know how to make things really special." Tim said as he squeezed her thigh under the table. Abby covered his hand with her own and slid it a little higher. Tim smiled. Luckily they were well covered by the tablecloth. His eyes widened. "And here I was thinking that things couldn't get much better."

Abby giggled.

Gibbs stood up and clinked his glass to get attention. "I'm not one for speeches but, I just wanted to thank everyone for all the trouble they've gone to. Especially my girls, Abby, Ziva, and Amber and a special thankyou goes out to Sarah." Sarah sat up and her eyes went wide. "I set her a trap with that file and she fell for it hook line and sinker." He said chuckling at the memory. "I knew she'd go running to Abby and the rest is history." Sarah blushed. He turned to Kim and held up his glass. "A toast to my beautiful bride and my precious new daughter. I hope you liked your surprise. I loved mine. I didn't really know that I'd been lonely until I wasn't any more. And one more thing. Thanks Abs, you are an interfering little busy body that refuses to listen no matter how many times you get into trouble, but this time your gut was right." This time Abby's eyes filled with tears.

Tony then stood up and held up his glass. "To the Gibbs', we wish you love, happiness and fun. Now, time to cut the cake." The cake was brought out and put in front of the new family. Kim eyes now shone with fresh tears as she saw the cake toppers that Abby had altered to look like their family. They all had a laugh at the grey haired Gibbs.

"That's me!" Maddie squealed.

"It sure is." Abby said smiling. And look, Jess has a present for you too. Jess passed Maddie a little velvet bag with a draw string and she opened it up. Her mouth dropped as she brought out the beautiful gold bracelet that was inside.

"It's the same as yours." Maddie said to her friend. Jess shook her head.

"Not sactly the same, mine says on the inside Jess McGee. Yours says Maddie Gibbs." She said smiling. "Do you like it?" Jess asked.

"I love it." She whispered in Jess ear. "Even better than the one I borrowed off Sarah." Jess giggled. Tony cued the music and the musicians started to play 'I've Had The Time of My Life'. The cake was cut and passed around while the adults watched the little girls dance together to the song.

There was a few more dances and the musicians played some requests and then it was time for the bride to throw the bouquet. It was quite funny really with the lack of single women. When they were lined up behind Kim, they consisted of Sarah, Amber, Jess and Maddie. Kim threw the bouquet which was caught by Maddie. Tony looked at Dylan and raised his eyebrows teasingly.

"No Way!!!" he said as he ran behind his Dad. Maddie poked her tongue out and chased him.

Gibbs said to Tim with a sparkle in his eye. "You better just keep that boy away from my daughter."

Tim chuckled. "I hate to tell you Boss, but it's your daughter that's chasing my son." He said as they watched Dyl sliding across the dance floor with Maddie attached to his tux. She was hitting him with the bouquet.

Tony and Ziva had taken Maddie to their room for the night to give the newlyweds some time to themselves. Gibbs waited in bed while Kim was taking a really long time in the bathroom. "Everything alright in there?" he asked.

"Um ....Yeh........I" she tried to explain, but couldn't really find the words.

"What's wrong Kim?" Gibbs asked "You're starting to worry me."

"There's nothing really to worry about." She said sheepishly.

"Then why won't you come out?" Gibbs said to the closed door.

"Abby gave me another gift. Something to wear on my wedding night. I didn't bring anything else in here to change into and this is ............"

"Don't you dare change." Gibbs said grinning. "I wanna see what she picked out for you." The door almost opened and then closed again.

"No laughing. You gotta promise." She said.

"I promise." Gibbs said as he bit the inside of his cheek. The door slowly creaked open and Gibbs didn't have to try not to laugh. There was nothing funny about what Kim was wearing. It took his breath away.

"Your beautiful." He said as he had a longer look. " Why would you think THAT was funny."

"I don't know. I just..........it's not something that I would normally wear." Kim said blushing.

"If it makes you feel any better, you're only JUST wearing it." He said with a grin. "These." He said running his fingers along the white leather G string are not much more than a piece of dental floss really. And this .........."

"Baby doll." She helped.

"Yeah, well this baby doll." He said as he pulled her in close. "Doesn't cover anything in the front."

"It's not meant to Jethro!" she said indignantly. He chuckled.

"Oh darlin, I'm not complaining." He said as he made use of the missing front. In fact, I'm starting to think you're wearing way too many clothes."

"But you just said........" Kim tried to say but found herself quieted by a lingering kiss.

"Oh I know what I said. And it's a lovely present that Abs gave you." He said as he threw his bride over his shoulder and headed for their massive bed. "But now, it's my turn to unwrap it."

TBC


	61. Chapter 61

Thankyou all so much for your reviews and alerts. I appreciate each and everyone. I love to read what you're thinking. This is a short chapter but I hope you enjoy it anyway :)

Chapter 61

While Gibbs and Kim were making the most of their wedding night alone, Tony and Ziva were experiencing their night as surrogate parents to Maddie. Maddie had become much improved over the last couple of months, but, all kids will try out new people to see what they can get away with and Maddie was more experienced at it than most.

"Come on now Maddie." Ziva said. "It is very late. It is time to go to sleep."

"But I miss my Mommy and Daddy." she said with a perfect pout. "They always let me sleep in their bed with them if I'm sad." Ziva looked at her worriedly. They had looked after Dylan before, but she knew Dylan, they spent a lot of time with Abby and Tim. She knew what his boudaries were. Ziva really wasn't very sure about this.

"Come on Zi." Tony said. "It's only one night." Ziva looked at Tony. He could be right.

"Well you had better go straight to sleep." Ziva said sternly. Maddie grinned. She knew she had won this round. Tony picked her up and carried her to their bed and they all climbed in. As Tony reached over to turn off his bedside light, Maddie put her hand on his arm. "Uncle Tony, Mommy always lets me watch television when I'm not tired." She said sweetly. She cuddled into Tony's side to seal the deal .

"Oh alright for just a little while." He said as he reached for the remote. Ziva rolled her eyes.

"Tony! It is late. Perhaps the programs that are on this time of night are not appropriate for a little girl." she said. Maddie glared at Ziva. "You better be VERY careful which channel you are putting it on." She said.

"Right." Tony said. "Let's play a game Maddie. "You close your eyes and stick your fingers in your ears and I'll tell you when we've got to the channel that we can watch." Ziva turned over and attempted to go to sleep with the television blaring on the Disney Channel.

Over in Tim and Abby suite, they were having their own problems. They had two adjoining rooms. One for them and one for Sarah and Jess and a small living room between them both. Trouble was that Dyl seemed to be in a joking mood. He'd already had a few hard swats for teasing Jess. When she was getting changed, he put a scary mask on that he'd brought with him. Jess got a fright and spun around with her T shirt on her head and fell over. She screamed blue murder. When they finally got her calmed down and ready for bed, she climbed in and found a rubber snake between the sheets and it all started again.

Tim had smacked Dylan twice really hard the second time but he still didn't lose the twinkle in his eye. Abby hugged her harried husband and tried to calm him down. "He's just excited Timmy. And he's had way too much sugar." She said. Tim narrowed his eyes.

"Abs, he's being a total brat. I know you don't want to spoil this trip but, the kids cruisin." He said. They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Tim trudged over and opened it up.

"Room service." The young man said. Tim frowned. Maybe Abby had ordered something when he was in the shower.

"Thankyou." he said and wheeled the trolley into the room."Abs!" he called "Your room service is here." Abby walked out drying her hair.

"I didn't order any room service." Abby said lifting a lid. "Maybe it was a mistake." She said.

"Please! Abby! Four cans of coke and four bowls of ice cream." He said. "DYLAN!!!" Tim called.

"Yes Dad?" he asked innocently.

"Did you call room service?" he asked.

"Um.....yeah." Dylan said, still wearing an innocent face.

"Did Mom or I say that you could?" Tim asked while Abby looked on with narrowed eyes.

"You didn't say I couldn't." Dyl said. Abby rounded on him.

"It's late you asked me at the wedding if you could have two desserts and what did I say?" she asked.

"You said no." he said.

"That's right. Now go to bed." She said.

"But what about the ice cream?" Dyl said. Tim turned Dyl around and sent him off with yet another whack.

"BED!" he said. Dyl went in the bedroom and when he was sure the door was shut, he poked his tongue out.

"You suck!" he said to the closed door. He went and got his backpack to see what other good stuff he'd brought. Jess was no fun she just kept crying and getting him in trouble. He was sure Sarah could take a joke. He got out his prized joke and opened up Sarah's bed and plopped it down inside, and then pulled up the covers again.

He decided to get into bed before he got the blame for anything else.

Sarah was out in the living room with Zac. They were now eating the ice cream that Dyl had ordered and watching television. "I better go after this, Zac said. I don't wanna disturb Ducky when I go in." he said. Sarah nodded.

"He did look pretty tired." She said. Abby looked at Tim and grinned.

"Yeah. I'm sure that's what it was." She said quietly to Tim. "Couldn't have been all that scotch, that he drank toasting the happy couple." she said quietly to Tim. He grinned back.

"I think we all had our share." He said. "Speaking of which, time I was in bed, you coming?" he said wiggling his eyebrows.

"Right behind ya Timmy." She said. Zac looked over and smiled. I'm gonna get going, I'll see you all for breakfast." He said as Sarah walked him to the door.

All was finally peaceful and Timmy and Abby were happily wrapped in each others arms. Tim kissed Abby's neck and trailed butterfly kisses down the length of her spider web tattoo stopping to suck and nibble a little on the spot that just meets her shoulder, she made a low gutteral sound from deep in her throat as he shifted their positions............All of a sudden there was loud shouting and a door banging. Tim threw himself back on his pillows and blew out a hard breath as he tried to get himself under control enough to go and KILL his kids.

Stomping out into the living room, he found an angry Sarah making a bed on the sofa. "I will NOT share a room with that.....he's gross Tim!" she said. "Go and look what he did in my bed." Tim's eyes blinked quickly as he tried to imagine what the hell had happened this time. He stomped into the bedroom, quietening his steps as he remembered that Jess was asleep, by some miracle. A dead person couldn't sleep in this suite. Let alone do anything else. He managed to push those thoughts back out of his mind while dealt with the current crisis. Noticing that Dylan's body was shaking a little, he tapped him on the shoulder.

"Something funny Dyl?" he asked. Dyl kept giggling. "Dylan!"

"It... was.... just.... a joke!" he said through his giggles. "I thought Sarah would laugh."

"What...was....a...joke." Tim said, losing patience. Giving up on hearing it from Dylan, he pulled back Sarah covers. "Fake Poo." He said "Get up Dylan. You're coming with me." he said as he picked up the offending item and threw it on Dyl's bed. Taking his son's hand he dragged him into the living room. "Sarah, it was fake. Go back to bed. DYL is gonna sleep out here." He said levelling his son with a stony glare. Sarah knew that look and decided it would be in her best interest to get out of there, so she left.

When Sarah had gone and the bedroom door closed Tim looked at Dylan. "I don't know why all of a sudden you've turned into such a funny man, but you have just managed to break through my last nerve. Come here, he said. Dylan stood in front of him. "It isn't funny Dyl to make yourself laugh if it makes other people cry. I'm gonna believe you one last time, but if you do one more thing I'll turn you over my knee so fast that you won't know what hit you. And you won't be wearing your pants. Do you understand?" Dyl gulped and nodded. Tim kissed the top of his head. "Good! Now lay down and go to sleep." He said as he covered him with the blanket and turned off the light.

As Tim got back into bed, Abby sat up. "What was all that about?" she said.

"Two words. Fake Poo." He said as he pulled her into his arms. Abby giggled.

"One more thing Abby and he's gonna get it. I mean it. He's really pushing his luck." Tim said.

"Then why didn't you spank him ?" she asked.

"Because." He said.

"Because why?" she said. Tim rolled his eyes in the dark.

"Just because." He said. Abby sat up and put on the bedside lamp.

"That's not a reason Tim." She said. "What's wrong?"

"I was angry Abby, because we were.............." he started

"Interrupted?" she filled in for him.

"Yeah. That's my problem not his. I don't ever want to take my anger out on the kids. That wouldn't be fair."

"That's why I love you Timmy." She said.

"Why?" he asked

"Because you're you." She said.

TBC


	62. Chapter 62

Thankyou all for your lovely reviews and alerts. I love to read them all and they are much appreciate you. If you're reading, please take a minute to review. It would make my day :)

Chapter 62

The next morning as the light broke through the window in Tim and Abby's room Tim cracked eye open and squinted at the unusual sound. "Abs?" he said giving Abby a gentle shove. "Do you hear that?" he said.

Abby grimaced and tried to sit up and listen at the same time. "I don't hear anything Tim." She said.

"You don't think that's a bit unusual at." He picked up his watch off the bedside table. "8:30 am?" he said.

"Well it was pretty late by the time everyone went to sleep." Abby said sleepily.

"I'm just gonna go and check anyway, see if everyone's still here and in one piece." He said.

"Uh huh. You do that McGee, I'll be up in a minute." She said as she turned over.

Tim got up and hunted around for the sweatpants he'd had on last night and slipped them on before padding out to the living room. So far so good he thought as he spied Dylan sprawled out on the sofa with an arm hanging off the edge. He opened the girl's door a crack and found that they were also still sound asleep.

Tim was almost doing an Irish Jig as he got himself back into the bedroom as quickly and quietly as he possibly could. Dispensing of the sweatpants post haste and snuggling up to his wife, he started to gently run his fingers tips up and down her arm, hoping that it would stir her awake. Nothing. He decided to up the ante and started dropping little baby kisses first on her shoulder, then down the cross on her back. He traced the intricate pattern with his tongue all the way to the bottom of the cross and then thankfully, finally Abby stirred.

"Abs? Honey? You awake?" he said eagerly.

"I am now." she said with a smile. "Been enjoying yourself have you?"

"As a matter of fact I have, but nowhere near as much as I intend to." He said as he flipped her around to face him. "Now where were we last night before we were rudely interrupted? Oh that's right." He said as he started nibbling on her neck. "I was here.......and here........and here." Abby sucked in a breath as he rolled her underneath him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a passionate kiss........

"Watcha doin?" Jess said from the end of the bed. Tim threw himself onto the other side of the bed and brought the blankets up to his neck. "What were you doin?" Jess tried again curiously.

"Um...........uh....Jess, I was doing push ups. And.........Mommy.......well Mommy...she, was counting them."

"Why?" Jess asked.

"We needed to save time, so that we can go downstairs quickly and meet Maddie for breakfast!" Abby said with a beaming smile on her face. "YAY!" Jess started clapping. "So why don't you get dressed and........ shut the door on your way out.................. and Daddy and I will be right out in a minute." Abby said. Jess went out happily and shut the door behind her.

"FUCK!!!" Abby said. "Sorry Tim, but sometimes, no other word will do it for me."

"Yep." Tim said. "She's not gonna be scarred for life is she?"

"Nah! ...............Not to sure about us though. Who needs condoms anyway when you have kids?" she said. Tim looked slightly alarmed. "Don't worry Timmy, I'm sure I'll get over it eventually.

By the time the McGee's got down to breakfast, there'd already been an altercation. Apparently Maddie had woken up on the wrong side of the bed and Tony and Ziva were struggling to do anything with her. Her hair was messed up and she seemed to be wearing her flower girl dress. As they walked in, she was near the food service area with her hands on her hips arguing with Tony about something.

Dyl and Jess went to sit at the end of the large table and Tim and Abby sat opposite Ziva who was doing her best to ignore Tony and Maddie. "Problems?" Tim said inclining his head towards the argument.

"It would seem so. Tony will be minding Maddie today." She said while she continued her breakfast. Abby grinned.

"Why's that?" she asked.

"He broke her, so he bought her." she said. "He would not listen. She was watching television for most of the night and now she is too tired."

"What she just sat up all night?" Tim asked smirking.

"No, she was in our bed. She said that when she was sad, her Mommy and Daddy always let her sleep in their bed." Ziva said. "Are all children like this?"

"Not all the time, but Maddie isn't like that all the time either." Tim said. "She's just trying you out. Seeing what she can get away with."

"Apparently alot." Ziva said as she watched Tony staggering over with Maddie's breakfast of pancakes and ice cream.

As they sat down, Tim said to Maddie. "Is that what your Mommy or Daddy would let you eat for breakfast?" Maddie shrugged. "Oh well...." Tim said as he pulled out his cell phone. "Why don't we just phone and ask them?" he said.

"Um.........maybe the pancakes without the ice cream." She said very quickly.

Tim nodded. "That's what I would let Jess have too. Good choice Maddie." he said as he scraped all the ice cream off the top of the pancakes.

"Can I sit down there with Jess Uncle Tony?" Maddie asked.

"Sure honey." he said. "Thanks probie."

"No problem." Tim said. "We've had our own issues, we're not perfect parents. It's trial and error." Abby giggled.

"Is there a story here?" Tony said.

"Not one you're ever likely to here from me." Tim said. Tony looked at Abby."Or Abby." He said looking seriously at his wife.

Tony shrugged. It'd take a bit longer but he'd find out. Abby would have to tell Ziva and Ziva would tell him.

Jimmy and Amber walked in holding hands. "Hey guys!" Jimmy said as they took a seat.

"Hi everyone." Amber said brightly. "Isn't everyone eating. I'm starving." She said. Tony looked up.

"Morning sickness is gone." Jimmy said happily. "As are the moods I think." He said quietly as he saw Amber leave the table. Abby and Ziva smiled.

"Thank God." Abby said. "I've really missed the old Amber."

"You're not the only one Abby." Jimmy said.

"Ok. Let's eat." Tony said as they all got up to join the buffet line.

As they all struggled back to the table with their plates laden with food Amber looked up at them. "We're the kids?" she asked. They all looked blankly at the end of the table.

"Weren't they there when you sat down?" Tim asked.

"No, should they have been?" Amber asked.

"That's where we left them." Abby said looking around frantically. Just then Tony's cell phone rang.

"Boss." He said as he looked at Ziva in a panic. "Right on it Boss." All eyes were on him as he hung up the phone. "They're out the front at the fountain. The Boss saw them from the elevator."

"What was he doing in the elevator?" Ziva asked.

"I don't know Ziva! I didn't stop to ask him. He just rang to tell me that he found his kid that we were supposed to be minding out the front on her own."

They all filed out to the front of the hotel and as soon as they got near the fountain they saw them. They were giggling their little heads off at the bubbles that were rising up out of the pool that surrounded the fountain and spewing over the edge onto the surrounding tiles. Everytime the fountain changed its form, the bubbles increased in volume. Tim made a beeline for Dylan who immediately covered his pockets with his hands.

"Did you do this Dyl?" Tim asked. Dyl looked around at all the spectators and was a bit worried that his Dad might just carry out his threat right here, right now. He was pretty mad. Dyl thought he'd have plenty of time to get rid of the evidence. Now he was stuck with it in his pocket.

"I need to go to the bathroom." Dyl said panicking. Now that Tony had Maddie by the hand, and he was unlikely to have to face the wrath of Gibbs, he found the whole thing very amusing. If he was honest, it was something he may have done as a kid. "I have to go." Dyl said desperately.

"TIIMM!!" Abby said. "He has to go to the bathroom."

"And I'll take him, in two minutes." He said as he patted down his shirt and pants. Dylan was looking really worried the closer his Dad got to his pants pocket. When he stopped Tim looked at Dylan and they both knew what he'd found. Dylan tried to block his pocket opening with his hand, but Tim gave it a slap and made him move it. Digging into Dyl's pocket Tim brought out the evidence, an empty bottle of shampoo that he held up to Abby.

"It's Sarah's." she said.

"I warned you Dylan." Dyl hung his head and swiped away the tears that were rolling down his face.

"You said.......you said not to do jokes that make people cry." He said.

Tim crouched down to Dylan's level. "When you put the shampoo in the fountain, did you know that you were doing the wrong thing?" Dylan started to cry in earnest.

"I'm sooorrry." He wailed.

"So am I Dyl." Tim said as he stood up and took his hand. "Dylan, did the girls have anything to do with this?" Dylan shook his head.

"No. I told them I wanted to show them something neat." He said sadly.

"Well it's good you told the truth." Tim said. "Come on, let's get this over with."

When they reached the suite, Tim opened the door and took Dylan by the hand straight into his room. Sarah had been asleep still when they went down to breakfast and he didn't want to disturb her. He sat on the bed and pulled Dylan in front of him. "Since we arrived at this hotel, you have been teasing and playing jokes and pranks and being really naughty. I warned you last night that if you did one more thing you were going to get a spanking didn't I?" Dylan nodded his head sadly. "This behaviour stops now." Tim said very firmly.

Taking Dylan's hand he yanked his jeans and underwear down to his ankles and pulled him over his knee. Dylan yelped as the first hard smack fell. With the next one, he started to cry. "Daddy I'm sooorry. Please." Tim took a big breath and hardened his resolve as he brought his hand down hard over an over until he'd given him ten swats. By the time he'd finished, Dylan was sobbing hard.

In Sarah's room, in Sarah's bed, there were two very guilty heads that popped up at the sound of Dylan yelling and crying and the undeniable sounds of a spanking going on. Sarah eyes went wide as did Zac's. "He's gonna kill me." He hissed. " I knew this was a bad idea."

"He won't know if you go now!" Sarah hissed back. Zac started to gather his clothes as he scrambled out of the room and hopefully out of the suite, before Tim caught them. As he managed to get down the hall at least now wearing his pants, he started to breath again. Opening up his cell he rang Sarah number.

Tim pulled Dyl into a comforting hug and held him while he cried.

"I'm sorry Dad. He said.

"That's ok Dyl. It's all over now."

Sarah opened her cell phone on the first ring. "Hey" she said.

"Hey" Zac said. "I love you Sarah McGee."

"I love you too." She said.

"Sarah?"

"Yeah Zac?"

"That was............."

"I know........" Sarah said with a smile.

TBC


	63. Chapter 63

I would just like to thank everyone for their reviews and alerts. I love to read them and I love to know what you're thinking. Please continue. It makes me happy. I hope yoou all like this chapter :)

Chapter 63

Jimmy and Amber closed their door and sat down on the bed. Amber covered her face with her hands and Jimmy pushed his glasses back onto his face. Neither said anything for a couple of minutes. Finally it was Amber who spoke.

"Maybe it wasn't what it looked like." She said. At his incredulous look she sighed. "Well ..............maybe..........well........" she really tried to come up with a reasonable explanation for what they saw, but kept coming up blank. "Do you think?" Jimmy raised his eyebrows. "Would they be that game?"Jimmy gave her a look that said really?

"Amber, put the pieces together. Tim drags Dyl upstairs after he puts shampoo in a fountain, presumably to spank him, them we see Zac running down the hallway, away from that room, getting dressed as he went. Bare feet no shirt. Bundled up clothes and shoes under his arm. There are only two possible explanations for that."

"Two?" Amber said.

"One; They were caught in the act or two; Somehow they managed to not get caught and he was escaping. Either way, it's pretty obvious what they were doing." He said.

"Mmmm. I'm leaning towards two." Amber said.

"How do you figure that?" Jimmy said.

"Because Tim wasn't behind him and he wasn't full of gun shot wounds." She joked. Jimmy snorted.

"Funny but true. Now what do you think we should do with this information?" Jimmy said.

"Mind our own business?" Amber answered hopefully.

Jimmy chuckled. "Yeah, well that would be my preference too, but, we're grown ups now remember?" He patted her tummy affectionately. "I have to ask myself, if this was my son or daughter, would I want to know?"

Amber nodded. "I don't know if telling Tim is the right answer though." She said thoughtfully. "If this was their first time, it needs to be handled a little more delicately than Tim going in all paddles blazing. They haven't really done anything wrong."

"Yeah, well I'm not sure he'll see it that way." Jimmy said.

"Exactly. I'll try and get Abby on her own and talk to her. Let her handle it. If she feels she needs to tell Tim, well, I'll leave that up to her." Amber said. Jimmy nodded.

"The fountain thing was pretty funny wasn't it?" he said. Amber giggled.

"Once again, don't think Tim thought it was funny." Amber said.

"He may have done. I guess he's not gonna show Dyl that, it's his job to look like he doesn't have a sense of humour...........Do you think that'll happen to me?" Jimmy said.

Amber smiled. "Luckily, this one isn't going to be putting shampoo in fountains for quite a while. We'll have some time to get to know him or her first."

"And to grow up." Jimmy said. "It's all pretty scary isn't it?"

Amber nodded. "Being responsible for a whole human being, and the way they turn out. I think I need a nap."Amber said. Jimmy nodded.

"Me too." He said.

Abby took Jess's hand and lead her away from the fountain. Tony and Ziva followed suit. Tony tried to hold Maddie's hand but she pulled away and ran over to Jess. They bumped into Ducky who was just on his way down to join them.

"Where is everyone else?" Ducky asked. Tony grinned and motioned his head towards the fountain.

"Tim's taken Dylan upstairs." He said.

"OH Dear! Quite right." Ducky said. "Expensive business soap on fountains."

"It was Sarah's shampoo." Jess corrected.

"Oh. Is that right Miss Jess." Ducky said looking around. "Speaking of Sarah. Where are her and Zac? He left the room a good hour ago." Abby's ears pricked up but loyalty prevented her from saying anything else.

What she was thinking was OH NO! And Tim has just gone up there. This is not gonna be good. Ziva didn't miss the look on her friends face though.

"Tony, why don't you take the two girls to one of those arcade places and show them your skills yes?" she said.

"Good idea Zi. Ready to learn how to play?" Tony said to the little girls. They both took one hand each and Ducky stood up.

"Wait Anthony, I think I might tag along." He said as he winked at Abby. He could see she needed to be alone with Ziva.

She waited until the others were well out of earshot before she spoke. "You're worried." Ziva said.

"I'm not EXACTLY worried." Abby said. "But I'm definitely ...........curious? No I'm worried. Look she's not a baby. I know that. They do love each other. I know that. I gave them condoms. Everyone knows that. Tim's gonna kill them. I KNOW that." Ziva giggled.

"So, what do you do now?" Ziva asked. Abby was staring off into space contemplating what her next move would be. She didn't want to keep secrets from Tim, she really didn't. But she felt torn. Ziva really wanted to help her but she didn't know how. She took her friends hand and squeezed it. "What are your choices Abby?"

Abby took a shaky breath. "I tell Tim and all hell breaks loose." "I don't tell Tim and I don't say anything.I ignore it." " I find Sarah and put my arms around her and ask her if she's OK." She said looking at Ziva.

"And which one does your gut tell you is right?" Ziva asked. Abby didn't say anything for a couple of minutes.

Tears ran down her cheeks as she spoke huskily. "The last one. I know she's not mine, but I can't explain how I feel." She said as she swiped away the tears. "I feel like my baby just grew up. Even though I knew it was coming, it feels like I've been hit by a truck."

"Then you know what you have to do." Ziva said. "But if Tim finds out?" Abby rolled her eyes and chuckled.

Abby sighed deeply. "Then I'll explain my reasons and tell him I love him and hope he understands. Then I'll take what's coming to me I guess."

"Are you scared?" Ziva asked.

"Of Timmy? Never." At Zivas grin she felt the need to speak up for Tim. "And that's not because he spanks like a girl either because he doesn't. We understand each other." Abby's cell rang.

"Abby?" she said. "Yeah sure Amber, Ziva and I are down here. In the coffee shop area. See you then." She hung up. You heard?"

"Amber is coming down, Yes?" Ziva said.

At the arcade Tony was having fun with the girls and Ducky. Tony was making very sure this time to keep a good eye on both girls. He really didn't think the Boss would be too happy if he lost Maddie twice in the one day. They decided to all have a go at the racing cars. Ducky was absolutely amazing, Tony discovered at race car driving. Well the electronic type anyway. Hard as Tony tried he couldn't beat him. Jess was squealing in delight every time she and Ducky won a race. She was sitting in Ducky's lap. Maddie however, who was sitting in Tony's lap, was NOT squealing in delight.

"Why can't you win Uncle Tony!" she said as she hit the start button. "Again! And you HAVE to win this time!" she said.

"I'm tryin Maddie, but Uncle Ducky is very good at this." He said as he put more coins in the slot and waited. Maddie glared at him.

"My Daddy would win." She said in a sing song voice.

"Your Daddy's not here!" Tony said starting to lose patience now. "And if he was, he would spank your bottom for talking like that."

"Like you said. He's not here." She said still in the sing song voice.

"Maddie..........I.........I might just spank you myself if you don't knock it off." He said.

"You wouldn't dare." She said with narrowed eyes. The sing song voice no longer in use.

"Don't push your luck." He said matching her narrowed eyes with his own. "Ready Duck?" he said.

"The question IS Anthony, are YOU ready?" he said as he hit the start button and sped off.

Upstairs, Dylan had fallen asleep on Tim and Abby's bed. Tim put his head on a pillow and covered him up with the comforter. He walked quietly out into the living room and decided to call room service. After all that happened that morning, he'd missed breakfast. He picked up the phone and then put it down again. Maybe he'd see if Sarah had woken up yet, she might want something. He knocked on the door and opened it a crack to find Sarah dressed and sitting on her made bed. The other beds were still unmade.

"Morning." He said frowning. "Did you make your bed?"

"Um.......uh yeah."

"You didn't have to do that Sarah, housekeeping will come up later." He said.

Sarah smiled. "I didn't think. Force of habit." She said.

Force of what habit? Tim thought Since when did she ever make her bed at home without being asked? Teenagers he thought. Who could work them out. "You want something from room service Sar?"

"Nah.........I'm not hungry. I'm gonna meet Zac soon. He slept in too." She said. Well that wasn't really a lie was it?

Zac was sitting alone in the room he was sharing with Ducky. Only Ducky wasn't here. It was just him. Him and his big fat conscience. He'd tried to do the right thing. So had Sarah, but it had just happened. They were just going to lay down and make out a little. Ok maybe a lot, but an empty hotel room doesn't happen all that often and anyway, IT had happened and when Tim found out, he would put a stop to everything. That thought stopped him from breathing. He couldn't imagine life without Sarah. She was his everything. She was the last thought he had before he closed his eyes at night. He dreamt about her most every night and his first thoughts every morning were of her. His cell phone dinged indicating a message.

"I miss you." It was from Sarah. It made him smile. How could anything that felt so right be wrong. He sent a message back.

"I miss you too. My room is empty."

TBC


	64. Chapter 64

Thank you all for your reviews and alerts. I really do appreciate them and I love to read them all and to know what you are thinking. I hope you like this chapter :)

This chapter is for my husband, who puts up with ALOT! He knows why ;)

Chapter 64

The girls chatted quietly while they waited for Amber. When she finally arrived she looked nervous.

"You OK?" Abby asked.

"You are very pale. The morning sickness is not coming back is it?" Ziva asked.

"No.......no.....I'm fine, I feel great actually. It's just I need to tell you something." She said looking at Abby and then at Ziva.

"Don't worry about Ziva. Whatever it is you can say it in front of Ziva. We don't keep secrets. " she said with a smile. As the words left her mouth, she realised what she'd said. She doesn't keep secrets from Ziva, and yet she knew this really big thing and she was going to keep it from her husband who was her truly best friend. That was all wrong. She made up her mind on the spot to talk to Tim and make him understand.

"Sorry Amber? You were saying?" Abby said forgetting in her distraction that she was supposed to be listening.

"Um, Jimmy and I were going back to our room, just a little while after Tim had gone into your room with Dyl, and we saw.............Zac. He was kind of escaping. Putting his pants on as he went. No shirt. No shoes. Everything he wasn't wearing, was under his arm."

"He was by himself yes?" Ziva asked. Speaking to Amber but looking at Abby."That is a good sign."

"That's what we thought. If he'd of caught them, Tim would have been chasing him. Wouldn't he?"

"And he would have called me by now." Abby said checking her phone for missed calls." Nope. Nothing.

"What're you gonna do?" Amber said.

"What I should've done without considering anything else. I'm gonna talk to Timmy. Then I'm gonna find Amber and check if she's ok." She said taking a big breath. "Wish me luck."

Amber looked at Ziva. "What do you think's gonna happen?" she asked.

Ziva shrugged. "There are so many possibilities, I could not guess." Ziva said.

Amber sighed. "I think I need some french fries and a shake. Wanna help me find a McDonalds?" she said grinning.

"Why not." Ziva said.

Upstairs, Sarah arrived at Zac's door but before she could even knock the door came open.

"Hi." Zac said.

"Hi." Sarah said. "Are you still alone?" she said blushing.

"Yep." He smiled. "Wanna come in?" he asked,with a stupid grin, that try as he might, he couldn't wipe off his face.

"Do you want me to?" she asked.

"Of course I do..... But not just for that...... Well not for that at all if you don't want to." He stumbled out.

"Of course I do.....If you do.........But...." she tried to get out. "We took a risk."

"Don't worry I've got it covered." Zac went bright red. "Not that kind of covered but...."

"I know what you mean." Sarah said giggling. "It can't happen again though........you know....without......"

"I know.....I'm so sorry. I just........." he tried to explain but couldn't find the words.

"Zac. It wasn't just your fault. Anyway, we love each other don't we?" Sarah said smiling.

"More than anything." Zac said pulling her into a hug. He took her hand and lead her inside.

Abby let herself into their suite and found Tim sitting on the sofa eating a sandwich. "Hey Abs." he said. "I didn't know how long you'd be so I didn't order you anything. But I can call if you're hungry?" he said. Abby chewed the inside of her lip.

"I'm good Timmy, but we need to talk. More specifically, I need to talk and you need to listen. To EVERYTHING I say before you react. OK?" Tim dropped his sandwich on the plate and stood up.

"What's happened?" he asked.

"Tim I'll tell you, but you need to listen to all of it. It's important. You have to promise that you won't fly off the handle first." She said vehemently.

"Abby....I need to know what the hell is going on. Now." Tim said, really starting to panic. This was obviously big. "Please?"

"Let's sit down." She said. She kind of wished she had the handcuffs so she could make certain that he would stay still.

"Stop stalling Abby and just TELL me." He said any tiny thread of patience he had left almost gone.

"OK. I think that Sarah and Zac, may have had sex." She said quickly. Tim looked at her blankly, his face not giving anything away. This could be OK, she thought. Or it could be terrible. She kind of wished he'd just say something.

"Where." Is all he said finally, completely devoid of emotion.

"Does that matter?" she asked. "I mean Tim, what can that possibly matter."

"I guess it doesn't." He said, running his hands through his hair. "After I'd taken care of things with Dylan, he fell asleep in our bed and I went into their room to see if Sarah wanted something to eat."

"What's that got to do with the price of fish?" she said.

"Nothing I suppose Abs, but she MADE HER BED. When I asked her why, she said, 'force of habit'. When has she ever been in the habit of making her bed?" he said seriously. Abby giggled. "It's not funny."

"Tim I know it's not. That's why you have to be very careful." She looked at his face and saw that he was really listening to her. "Tim, a girl only gets one first time, I mean, I know a boy does too but look, for both of them, if you go all psycho about this. That will be there memory. Tim my 'first' memory, is not that great. It was ok ....but it SHOULD be GREAT. Don't spoil it for them. Please."

"Firstly Abs, I hear you. I get it, really I do and to be honest, I'm out of my depth so, what ever you think we should do, that's what we'll do. Secondly, happy to never talk about your first again, I don't wanna be any part of Sarah's memory of her first time. Or any of her times after that."

Abby beamed. "I'm so proud of you Timmy."

Tim gave her a sad smile. "Do you think she's OK?"

"Yeah. But I'm gonna make sure." She said.

"Abby?" Tim said. "I still can't have them being alone in the house OK? I mean, I know I can't control everything, but I can control that. I don't want it in my house."

"Fair enough." She said.

At the arcade, Maddie's eyes were droopy and she was not a happy camper. Actually she was a hair's breadth way from a total meltdown. Lack of sleep and routine and the fact that she hadn't learnt yet how to be a good sport, were contributing factors.

"Uncle Tony, you're mean!" she said as she burst into tears. "You're just losing on purpose. You want Ducky to win!" she said.

"Maddie come on..." he tried to cajole. "Let's play another game."

"NO! Don't wanna! I wanna win this game! Put the money in! Now!" she said.

"Calm down." He said.

"No! Put the MONEY IN!" she shouted. Tony shook his head. There was no way this was gonna end well.

"Ducky, we're gonna go back. Time for a little lady to have a nap." He said quietly. Apparently, not quietly enough.

"NO!NO!NO! I'm not havin a nap! I'm not! You're not my Daddy! Let me go! I want my Daddy!" she screamed. Tony's face was filled with utter panic. She was gonna get him arrested at this rate.

"Tony." Ducky hissed. "Your badge." Tony grinned. He threw Maddie over his shoulder and got his badge out and flashed it for everyone to see, while he got the hell out of there. Ducky and Jess weren't far behind.

Maddie kicked and screamed pummelled Tony's back, all the way to the hotel and into the elevator. After a particularly hard kick to the stomach, when the doors had closed, Tony dropped to one knee and tipped Maddie over the other one bringing his hand down sharply on her wriggling bottom. She continued to slap his leg and scream. Taking the offending hand in his he brought his hand down another five times and then stood her up. "Enough now Maddie. Be a good girl or Uncle Tony will spank you again." He said.

"No, no more." She said with a pout. "I'll be good."

"Good." He said as he lifted her up and cuddled her. "I know who's a very tired little girl." Maddie put her head on Tony's shoulder and before they even got back to the room, she was sound asleep.

Ziva and Amber got back to the hotel just as Ducky and Jess were on their way through the doors.

"Hey Ducky." Ziva said. "Would you like me to take Jess for a while?" she asked.

"Well as a matter of fact, we were just going to get something to eat. Would you like to join us?" Ducky asked.

"I would." Amber said. Ziva looked at her with her face screwed up.

"Amber did you not just eat a burger and fries and a shake?" she said.

"I can't help it. I'm hungry." She said with a pout. "I'm always hungry."

"Not to worry, I'm sure it's just a phase." Ducky said. "Why don't you call Jimmy and see if he'd like to join us?"

"I will." Amber said.

"I will go and check on Tony. Perhaps I will see you a bit later." Ziva and Amber both said goodbye but Jess hung on to Ziva's legs.

"Can I come with you and see if Maddie's ok?" she asked. "She was crying and Tony was mad."

Ziva crouched down to Jess's level. "I am sure that Maddie is just fine. She did not get much sleep, so she is probably taking a nap. When she wakes up I will find you and we will do something together. OK?"

"OK." Jess said. "Where's my Mommy and Daddy?"

"Tell you what." Amber said. "We'll just get you a bite to eat and then we'll take you back to your room and we'll find them."

"What would you like Jess?" Ducky asked.

"Can I have a burger?" she asked.

"I'm sure that can be arranged." Ducky said.

Dyl woke up and Tim decided to take him downstairs to get something to eat to give Abby a chance to talk to Sarah.

"Tell her I love her." Tim said as he kissed Abby goodbye.

"She knows that Tim. But I will." she said with a smile.

"Come on Dyl, let's see if we can get throough lunch without being escorted out by security." Tim said.

"Aww Dad! It was only a joke. Nobody thinks nothins funny. It was real pretty too." He said. Tim rolled his eyes.

"As I'm sure the bill with all the zero's is going to be if they make us pay for the damage." Tim said sternly.

"He's been punished Tim." Abby reminded him. "Don't be so grumpy."

"Mmmm." He said as he came back for another quick kiss.

Once Tim and Dyl had gone, Abby opened her cell and speed dialled Sarah. No one answered. She tried again.

Zac was kissing Sarah goodbye at the door when her cell phone rang. "It's Abby." She said.

"What if she knows?" Zac said.

"We'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it." She said. Giving him a last kiss goodbye for now, she walked away answering her cell. "Hi Abs..........I'm nearly there..........kay. Bye."

When Sarah got to the family's suite Abby was waiting at the door.

"Hey." She said. As soon as Sarah saw her face, she knew that Abby knew. It had been an emotional and life changing day and Sarah couldn't help herself, she burst into tears. Abby opened her arms and she fell into wasn't long before they were both sobbing in each others arms. "Are you alright?" Abby asked as she pushed her back a little to get a better look at her face.

"I'm fine. Better than fine." She said sniffing. "I just..........I didn't want you to hate me."

"Why on earth would I hate you Sarah?" she asked.

"Because you wanted us to wait." Sarah said.

"We wanted you to wait until YOU were ready. No one else can know that Sarah." Abby said.

"Does Tim know?" she asked, her face full of dread. Abby nodded and pulled Sarah into a stronger hug when she cried harder.

"Shhh. It's OK. He's Ok. He asked me to give you a message." Abby said with a smile.

"What, that I'm never leaving the house again?" she asked.

"No silly. He asked me to tell you that he loves you." She said. Sarah was speechless. "But he did say that he's not comfortable with this in our house. I'm not either Sarah, so you'll have to bear that in mind. The house rules still stand."

"OK." Sarah said. "I can't believe that he doesn't want to kill Zac."

"Do you want him to?" Abby asked with a grin.

"Of course not." Sarah said finally able to smile.

"Oh and Sarah? One more thing. WE ARE going to see that Doctor when we go back home. No Buts."

"Yes MOM." Sarah said kissing Abby's cheek.

TBC


	65. Chapter 65

Thankyou to those that reviewed last chapter. I appreciate you taking the time. Sorry I didn't get this up last night, I didn't get a chance. I hope you enjoy it now :)

Chapter 65

Abby and Sarah ordered some room service and ate lunch together in the room while they chatted. Sarah's phone didn't stop the whole time though with the dinging. Text messages. Constant text messages. Followed by smiles and Sarah testing back. Abby had to smile. She wondered if that's why these young relationships became so intense. With the use of these texting systems, it was like the kids were in constant communication with each other. In the old days, when you were home from a date, you had to actually talk to your family or use the house phone and then if you were on too long your Mom or Dad would come and tell you to get off. More dinging.

"It's ok Sar." Abby said with a massive grin. "If you and Zac want to go do something, I'll live."

"You wouldn't mind?" Sarah said.

"Go ahead. Have some fun." Abby said. "Outside fun. It's not everyday you get to go to Vegas." Sarah smiled.

"Thanks Abs." she said giving her a big kiss and a hug. " For everything."

Tim was downstairs just finishing his lunch when his phone dinged. Opening it up he his face split into an enormous smile. The message said.

"Room's finally free Timmy."

"Jimmy, would you and Amber do me a big favour?" Tim said.

"Sure." Jimmy said."If we can."

"Watch the kids for me for a couple of hours."Tim asked hopefully.

"Might be fun." Jimmy said. "We could do with the practice. Right honey?" Amber looked like a deer caught in a headlight as she looked from Jess to Dyl and back to Jimmy.

"Okay." She said slowly. Dylan grinned. It was almost as though they had 'fresh blood' tattooed on their foreheads. Unfortunately, Tim was so happy about his long awaited afternoon delight that he didn't notice the look on Dyl's face or he would have read him the riot act.

Jess was happy that at least her and Dylan were getting babysat together. Sometimes he could be really fun. Like this morning with the fountain. Sure he had got into trouble but..........all those bubbles sloshing out of the fountain had been really funny. She smiled as she wondered what other great ideas Dyl had.

Dyl was thinking the same thing himself. What he would really like to do was go down to the place where all the slot machines were. Wow! When they'd passed by there. He'd never seen so many bright and coloured lights. It was like being in a giant arcade but bigger and brighter than you could ever imagine. There was no way they could sneak in there though, there was security everywhere. Dyl manouvered himself until he was sitting next to Jess. It would have been more fun to play tricks with Toby, but he hadn't been allowed to invite him. So it was Mom and Dad's fault anyway if he was , he could make do with Jess for company, she wasn't that bad. It was no fun playing tricks if you were by yourself. Dyl was so deep in thought, that he didn't notice that Tony and Ziva had arrived with Maddie.

Maddie came and sat next to Jess. Jess was ecstatic. "Maddie!" she said as she took her little friends hand. Dyl smiled. Good, he thought. The more the merrier. An audience was always good. The adults were in deep discussions as to who was minding who so none of them noticed as the kids made plans of there own.

"Want to have some fun?" Dyl asked the little girls. They looked at each other and then back at him with wide excited eyes and grinned. They didn't know why they were being handed such an honour but they certainly weren't going to miss the opportunity of being let into one of Dyl's schemes. He wasn't usually this much fun, but since he got those joke toys he was alot of fun. Not when he was doin it to them, but the bubbles were fun.

"What's one more?" Jimmy said to Tony and Ziva with a smile. Amber went white.

One more? She thought, Maddie was worth two kids when she got going and Dyl was acting so weird this trip.

"Well if you don't mind." Tony said. "I wouldn't mind spending some time alone with Ziva." He said grinning at her. She rolled her eyes.

"Yes, we could do some shopping." She teased.

"Nope I have something in mind already and it definitely doesn't involve shopping." He said wiggling his eyebrows. "In fact, we won't even have to leave the room."

"Forget it Tony, I am not watching movies all afternoon." She said.

"Oh alright. I'm sure we'll find something to do." he said.

"What about the gym?" Ziva said. "We could work off some of this food."

"We could see if the Probie wants to come." Tony said. Jess who had been listeniing quietly added.

"Daddy already doned his exercising today."

"He went to the gym?" Tony asked her.

"No. He doned pushups in bed. Mommy lied under him and counted how many he did." She said.

Ducky spluttered his tea all over Jimmy who was sitting opposite him. As he continued to choke, he muttered his apologies. "I am so sorry my dear boy." Jimmy pushed his glasses back on his face as he mopped himself up with some napkins trying not to laugh. Tony had long since lost that battle, with Ziva not far behind him.

"What's so funny?" Jess said indignantly.

"Nothing honey." Tony said. "We're just laughing at silly Ducky." Ducky smiled. He would rather at this point be the butt of the joke than have to explain what they were really laughing at.

"I'm going to go and have a rest. " Ducky said grinning. "This has been a very long day."

"Well kids, I have to change my shirt, so let's all go up to our room and then we'll think of something to do. Dylan's mind was ticking over. If they were going to get away, they would have to have both Jimmy and Amber out of the way for a few minutes. Without giving it much thought, he jumped up, knocking over his half drunk chocolate milk straight into Amber's lap. The girls eyes widened but they said nothing as Amber jumped up and squealed.

"Dylan McGee! You did that on purpose!" she said.

"I'm sure it must have been an accident honey." Jimmy said as he hugged her. "Come on, I have to get changed anyway, you can get changed as well."

Amber glared at Dyl who was doing his best teary pout expression. Something was going on there, she thought.

Tim opened the door and called out to Abby. No answer. He opened the bedroom door and there she was................laying on the bed on her tummy flicking through a magazine wearing nothing but his favourite leather thong. She was just perfection, he thought. The contrast between her creamy white skin and the ebony of her hair which was now flowing around her shoulders. He loved her pigtails. They were 'her'. But he also loved her hair down, it was the way she was for him. Not many people saw her with her hair down, her make up off and obviously without her clothes, but really, this was when she was perfect, and she was his.

"Timmy!" she cried out as she realised he was there. He got closer to the bed and she leapt on top of him and wrapped her self around him. Tim cuddled her to him and savoured the feel of her naked form pressed very tightly against him as he inhaled the scent that was just her, before setting her back down on the bed. He tried desperately to divest himself of his clothes, however he was almost incapable of the power to perform this most basic of normal functions, his need for her was so overwhelming. "Let me." Abby said as she moved his fumbling hands.

Jimmy opened the door to their suite and the others all filed in. Jimmy switched on the television in the small sitting room and put it on a kid's channel. "Don't change the channel." He said. "We'll be out in just a minute." He followed Amber into the bedroom and shut the door so that they could get changed. Dyl grinned.

"Are you with me?" he asked. The girls looked at him.

"Are we gonna get in trouble?" Jess asked.

"Only if we get caught." He said. "Course ifin your scared......"

"I'm not scared." Maddie said.

"Me neither." Jess said.

"Well let's go before they come out." he said already at the door.

When Jimmy and Amber came out of the bedroom, it was to find the living room empty.

"I knew he was up to something." Amber said quietly. "They're going to kill us."

"No they won't. We didn't do anything wrong." Jimmy said.

"What do we do?" she said desperately.

"Find them I guess." He said.

Meanwhile, the kids had just picked a random floor and got off the elevator. Dyl fished out some little packets of honey that he'd kept from the breakfast passed one to each of the girls. You need to spread this on as many door handles as you can. The girls did as Dylan told them while he did the same.

"Now what?" Jess said.

"We hide and wait." Dylan said. So they crouched down behind a large pot plant close to the elevator and waited. They didn't have to wait long before the housekeeping staff came to clean a room and put there hands on the handle. They all covered their mouth with their hands to stop the giggles from escaping at the horrified look on the maids face. Maddie's eyes positively shone. This was the most fun she had ever had. Dyl ran towards the elevator and they jumped in pressing another random floor.

When they got out of the elevator, Dyl stopped the girls who were both looking up at him like he was their absolute hero. Jess had never been blessed with this much of her brother's attention before and Dylan had never had anyone look at him like that before either. He knew this was wrong and he knew his Dad would be really angry if he found out, but if they were careful, how WOULD he find out? This was a huge hotel. They'd go back after a while and just say they wanted to get something out of their room and they got lost. They were only little kids. They'd have to believe them.

"Ok. This game is knock and run. We each have to knock hard on a door at the same time and then run back to this spot ok?" The girls nodded. They each went up to a door that was close by and when Dylan nodded, they banged hard a few times on the doors and then ran back to hid behind the pot plant near the elevator. They all sat with there mouths covered while each of the doors opened and the people looked at each other the doors shut, they filed back into the elevator. Dylan knew he should take the girls back, but he was having way too much fun. They picked yet another floor and pressed the button.

What they didn't realise, was that the floor they had just picked.........................was where the honeymoon suites were.

TBC


	66. Chapter 66

Once again, I'd like to thank those of you all who took the time to review. I really appreciate it. I love to know what you think. :) A few of you were wondering where the pranks come from. Whether I was naughty as a child or if the ideas come from my kids. Neither is true ;) Both myself and my children were and are all perfect angels. 0:-)

Chapter 66

Amber and Jimmy were beside themselves, they really couldn't find them and they didn't know where to look next. Looking at all the floors on the elevator, Jimmy had an idea. I think we should may be split up. "I could take all the even numbers and you could take all the odd numbers."

"Huh! I think you should take the odd numbers. Honestly Jimmy. Will you look at how many floors there are?" she said. "I knew that Dylan was up to something. We never should have turned our backs on them."

"That wasn't very nice Amber. Look, you have to calm down. They're just little kids. What can possibly happen?" he asked. Amber looked at him incredulously.

"Are you kidding me? Did you see that fountain this morning?"she said.

"Mmm" Jimmy said. "You don't think any one would have taken them, like kidnapped them do you?"

"That, Jimmy is the least of our worries. If kidnapping is the reason they're gone they'll be back within the hour. There isn't a ransom big enough in the world worth putting up with those three little monsters." she said. Jimmy winced.

"Look if you find them first honey, try and bring them back in one piece will you?" he said as the doors opened on the first floor. He gave her a gentle shove and smiled as the doors closed on her cute but irate face. For your sake kids I hope I find you first, Jimmy thought.

Dyl and the girls left the elevator and stood behind the pot plant. The same one that could be seen on every floor.

"What now Dyl?" Jess asked. Maddie listened intently to the answer , eager for some more fun.

The truth was, that Dyl was running out of ideas. But as he looked at the girls, watching him all expectantly, he knew he had to come up with something. Then he spotted it. The fire alarm. It was a bit further away from the elevator than he liked but............if he had to do something.

"See that red switch down there. That's the fire alarm. We havta be real quick, cos people are gonna come runnin." he said. He was kind of hoping the girls didn't want to do it but no such luck. Both their eyes were shining in anticipation. It probably would've been better if he got the girls to wait there but he knew it was wrong to leave them alone so they all went to press the button together. It was a fair way down the hall.

Dyl lead, with the girls not far behind him. he bent down and pressed the button hard and jumped. As a loud bell like sound rang through the hallway, he grabbed Jess and called to Maddie to keep up and they ran, but the fact that the girls were covering their ears didn't make their trip any quicker. They froze as a door swung open and a very loud familiar voice boomed down the door on the floor was now open as worried, confused and amused face littered the hallway.

"FREEZE!!!! Don't any of you dare move a muscle." He said. Jess covered her face with her hands as the voice got closer. Dyl's shoulders slumped and he dropped his eyes to the floor. Maddie stared at her Daddy's feet.

"UH OH!" She said.

Jimmy was about to exit the twelfth floor, as the elevator doors open he heard the alarm that was ringing through the entire building. "Oh No!" he said. "The kids." There was no way of telling which floor the alarm was coming from. It was just loud.

Amber also heard the alarm. Placing a hand on her belly she allowed herself just a fleeting thought of possible adoption. She wasn't serious of course but older kids were scary. Really scary. She got out her cell and messaged Jimmy. "Where do you think it's coming from?" She received an answer a couple of minutes later.

"No idea. All we can do is keep looking." It was less than a minute before Gibbs had sprinted down the hall and stopped the alarm. He rang the front desk and told them that it was a false alarm, just kids playing, and hung up the phone. Without saying a word, he just pointed to the doorway where Kim was standing, shock marring her previously glowing features. Even though each child tried to give Gibbs a wide berth, he still managed to land a hard wallop to each little backside that passed him. Once inside, he kicked the door shut with his foot before turning on the three naughty children.

"What on earth were you doing?" he asked as he scrubbed a hand through his hair.

"Playin pranks." Maddie said in mock innocence as she looked from one to the other. Daddy didn't look happy, neither did Mommy. She willed the tears to come but it just wasn't happening. Dylan winced. Jess held Maddie's hand, Gibbs was lookin a bit scary. He hadn't looked this scary since she bit him on the shoulder, so she knew this wasn't good.

"DYLAN!" he said. "PRANKS?!"

"Um..........kind of." He said nervously.

"I take it this wasn't the only prank you pulled?" he said.

"Well..........I.........we.........." Dylan stammered.

"Who was supposed to be minding you?" he asked.

"Jimmy an Amber." They all said at once. Gibbs opened his cell and dialled Jimmy who answered on the first ring.

"Jimmy Palmer?"

"Palmer!" Gibbs said gruffly. "Lose something?!"

"Oh yes. Um I'm sorry Gibbs, I'll be right up to get them." he said as he jumped back in the elevator.

Kim had rung Amber at the same time. She slammed her phone shut as she whacked the correct button on the elevator.

"Right!" Gibbs said as the phone calls had been made. "This is our honeymoon and I'm not going to waste any more time than I have to. Over here he said as he sat down on the sofa.

"You first Dylan." he said waving his arm for Dylan to hurry up. As soon as Dyl had got to with arms reach, he was snatched up and tossed over Gibbs knee where he proceeded to heat up the stinging smack he'd just got and the bare spanking he'd gotten from his Dad that morning. A few whacks and he burst into tears, sobbing as Gibbs delivered the rest of his ten spanks. He stood him up and gave him a quick hug and told him to stand by the door.

"You next Maddie." He said as he grabbed at his little girls hand. Picking her up, he shook his head sadly at her before he dropped her over his knee. She was crying before he even began. He brought his hand down with a noisy whack on the back of her jeans. Maddie screamed blue murder as he delivered the final five swats." Gibbs put her down in front of him and cuddled her tightly, kissing her head before he sent her over to the front door with a light pat on her already sore bottom. She narrowed her eyes and almost poked out her tongue, but decided at the last minute it might not be a good idea.

Jess was shaking by the time it was her turn but she was determined to be brave. Her lip wobbled as she got closer to Gibbs and she looked at him with watery sad puppy dog eyes as he took her hand and laid her gently across his knee. He brought his hand down smartly making her jump, and she couldn't control the tears any longer. Her crying built with each smack until Gibbs reached the sixth and final spank and she wailed loudly and clung to his shirt as he pulled her into a hug. Patting her head gently until she'd calmed down, he then took her hand and lead her to the front door. As soon as the knock came, he opened the door and greeted Amber with curt nod of the head.

"Don't take your eyes off them until you give these two back to Tim and Abby, and this one, to Tony." He said as he gave them all a gentle push out the door. "And you three better behave if you know what's good for you. D'ya hear?" Three solemn little heads nodded seriously."Remember, I'm just upstairs, not on the moon. Kim pushed past Gibbs and pulled Maddie into a hug and told her to be good, before ruffling Dyl and Jess's hair.

"Be good kids." She said.

As soon as the doors shut behind them Amber swung at the three guilty looking little devils. "Right! March!" she said as she pointed to the elevator. Smack! Smack! Smack! She gave each of them a spank as she walked down the hall. Another as they got into the elevator and another as they got out. She made Dylan walk in front as she followed him from behind holding each of the girl's hands. When she reached their room where she had told Jimmy she'd meet him, she glared at him and stomped into the bedroom and slammed the door shut. The kids all sniffled and looked at Jimmy expectantly.

"You better tell me everything you did." he said. "Start at the beginning and don't leave anything out."

Maddie and Jess looked at Dylan to do the talking. So he took a big breath and relayed all the things they'd done from the beginning.

"I'm sorry Jimmy." he said. Jimmy shook his head sadly.

"Dyl and you Jess, and Maddie. I can't believe that you would be so naughty." Jimmy said. "What did those people ever do to you?"

"Nothin." They all said together.

"Then why do those things to people?"Jimmy said.

"It was kind of funny." Dyl said. "Didn't you ever do pranks when you were little?"

"We're not talking about me." Jimmy said "And even if we were, and I did do pranks? I'm sure I would have gotten a spanking to remember for a very long time. Do you know why?"

"Because doing pranks is bad?" Jess said.

"Yes. Doing pranks is not the right thing to do." He said. "Why did you do all these things while WE were minding you?"

"Cos, we didn't think you and Amber would get mad." Maddie said.

"Well. What do you think now?"

"I think Amber was plenty mad." Jess said. The others nodded so vigorously that it almost made Jimmy laugh.

"Oh well, Tim and Tony are on their way to pick you guys up. I suggest that you behave until they get here." he said seriously. "They're not happy." Just as the kids were all once again looking at each other there was a loud rap on the door.

TBC


	67. Chapter 67

Thank you all for your lovely reviews, I appreciate them all and I love to read what you're thinking :)

A special thankyou to Maudlin Muse who is often my voice of reason and who helped me over a hump with this chapter and a lot of other stuff :)

Chapter 67

Jimmy opened the door and Dyl held his breath. He was in BIG trouble this time. He squeezed his eyes shut. It wasn't really gonna fix anything but it was kind of comforting to not see what was coming. He exhaled deeply and opened his eyes when he heard Uncle Tony's voice. Thank goodness it wasn't his Dad, he thought. Tony strode into the room and up to the three now very guilty looking children.

"You three are in BIG trouble." He turned to Dylan. "Whose brilliant idea was it to terrorise the hotel?" Dylan hung his head.

"Mine." He said. "We just wanted to have a little fun."

"A little bit of fun Dylan, doesn't usually include interrupting the bosses honeymoon with a FIRE ALARM!" he said as he tapped the boys leg to make him look at him. He then turned on the girls. "At what point did you two realise you were being really naughty?"

"When we put the honey on the handles." Jess said. Tony closed his eyes. He didn't even know anything about honey.

"What else did you do?" he asked. Dylan tried to shake his head so the girls wouldn't say anymore but the only person that saw it was Tony, who tapped him on the back of the head gently. "Not helping yourself here Dylan. More of your FUN ideas?" Dylan nodded and suddenly his shoes were the most interesting items in the room. "What else?" he said to Maddie.

"We knockeded on the doors and ranned away." Maddie said. Dylan's eyes filled with tears. He was trying to be brave but they were making it sound really bad.

Maddie and Jess were holding hands as usual, but Dyl was sitting by himself with his tears threatening to spill over. As Tony walked away for a minute to talk to Jimmy the girls moved positions until they were either side of Dyl. Jess rested her head on his shoulder. For once he didn't push her off. It felt nice to have someone on his side. Even Maddie sitting beside him was a comfort. Although when SHE tried to rest her head on his other shoulder he panicked a bit. Your sister was one thing but Maddie was a girl. Still he didn't want to hurt her feelings and he could do with all the friends he could get at this point, even girls.

Tony once again walked towards the kids. "Come on." He said. "I'll drop you two back to your room on the way to ours. Your Mom an Dad are waiting for you." Dylan gulped. They all three stood up together and walked in a pack to the door. Jimmy and Tony had a smirk over their heads at their sudden new found solidarity.

As they walked the relatively short distance from Jimmy's room to the McGee's, Jess and Dylan started to feel really bad. A little guilty, but mostly just scared. They didn't have to guess at their reception, they were in deep trouble and nothing short of a miracle was going to save them. Jess's face was going bright red and Dylan was dragging his feet like a man on death row walking to his execution. Jess squeezed his hand in support and he tried to smile, the corners of his mouth lifted, but the smile never quite reached his eyes. And then they were there. Tony knocked and Jess and Dylan held their breath.

Jimmy opened the bedroom door to find Amber curled up and sobbing on the bed. He went and laid beside her and gathered her in his arms and tried to sooth her. "Shhh. It's ok. Shh." He kissed the top of her head and her crying slowed a little, soon it was just gentle sobs and hitches of breath.

"I didn't handle that well." She said. "I was angry and I smacked them."

"Is that why you're crying? Because you smacked them?" Amber nodded.

"And because I didn't think. I was angry. You're supposed to calm down and plan things out. You're not supposed to just smack kids because you're angry." she said.

"In a perfect world, but Amber, you didn't just smack them because you were angry, you smacked them because they were really naughty and they deserved it. They scared us and they disturbed Gibbs and hell Amber they were being total brats." he said. She smiled.

"Do you really think that?" she asked.

"Yes I do and I think that your couple of smacks are gonna look like a drop in the ocean compared to whatever else they remember about this day." Jimmy said.

Tim closed his phone. "They apparently snuck away from Jimmy and Amber, all three of them, with the funny man as the fearless leader." He said. Abby gaped and then covered her face with her hands not really wanting to bare witness to what was obviously coming. "They went floor by random floor, they put honey on door knobs and played knock and run and then for their grand finale, on GIBBS FLOOR, they set off the fire alarm." He said as he paced up and down. He took a few deep breaths to calm down and pulled Abby into a hug. "What the hell has got onto Dylan?" he said.

"I guess he's just getting older, trying us out a little. A lot of it has to do with those gags and tricks that he has. It's like he got a taste for it and he can't stop. Maybe it's truly like an addiction Timmy. Maybe he can't stop. I mean they don't have patches for pranks do they?" she said. Tim pushed her away a little. He needed to see her face to see if she was actually serious. She was. He shook his head.

"I've heard of people making excuses Abby, but that's just..........." he started but was interrupted when there was a knock on the door. He put his finger up in warning. "No excuses Abby." He said seriously. She sighed.

As the door swung open, Dyl stepped back into Tony's legs. Didn't help him. Tony put his hand gently behind him and gave him a little push. He didn't really need it though as Tim's hand snaked out and grabbed him and propelled him into the suite. Abby took Jess's hand and kissed Tony's cheek before taking Jess inside and closing the door. Tim didn't say a word. He yanked Dyl's jeans down and landed four hefty swats to his bottom before marching him to the corner. "Don't move." He said giving him another swat for good measure. Dylan's lip quivered and big tears rolled before, down his cheeks. He'd seen his Dad mad but not this mad. At least he'd left his underwear up this time. Dyl thought as a little sob escaped. Abby again covered her face as Tim came back for Jess. Turning her around, he yanked her jeans down and gave her the same four swats that her brother had just received. Jess burst into tears and held her bottom.

"It's not fair!" she wailed. "Gibbs already spanked us and Amber smacked us too."

"Good." Tim said. "Then I'm not jumping the queue. It's my turn." He said as he placed her in the corner with another swat. Jess stood sobbing as she occasionally looked over at her brother for reassurance. Not too much of that being shared. Dyl was crying too.

Abby stood watching this all unfold with her hands still over her face as she peered through her fingers. She didn't know if she should intervene or not. Was Tim being too hard? What they had done was terrible. Especially putting Amber under all that stress when she was pregnant. Still they were only little kids. They didn't know about that stuff. Really though, this was more Dylan's fault than Jess or Maddie's. He was the oldest and it had to be his idea, it had his name all over it. There was no way that two six year old girls would come up with all those pranks. Abby sighed. It was her turn to feel out of her depth. She loved and trusted Tim. She'd just have to leave this in his capable hands.

Tim looked at his watch and called Jess over to him. He sat on the sofa and sat the distressed little girl on his knee. "I want you to pay attention to me Jess because this is important. What you children did today was very naughty. I know you wanted to have fun with Dyl but you knew you were being very naughty and you did it anyway. You should never have left Jimmy and Amber's room, let alone all those other things you did."

"I'm sorry Daddy." She said sadly as she looked down at her twiddling fingers.

"Now your Mommy's going to order you a sandwich and you can have your bath and go to bed. No dessert. OK?" Jess nodded and after kissing Tim's cheek and giving him a hug, jumped off his knee and took her Mother's hand. She turned sadly to have one more look at Dylan before they disappeared into the bedroom.

Tim walked over to Dylan, took his hand and led him back to the sofa, where he sat and pulled Dylan up onto his knee.

"Ok funny man, talk." He said with a frown. "What on earth were you thinking?" Dylan shrugged.

"Not good enough young man. I'm deadly serious. How many times do you have to be told to stop something before you actually listen?" Dylan looked at his Dad's face and he didn't like what he saw. His Dad was not happy with him and he didn't like it. He just wanted to have some fun, but if he'd learned anything at all over the last couple of days, it was that it wouldn't be smart to say that. He tried the old fall back for when you were in trouble and you didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry Dad. I won't do it again. I promise." He said. Tim, not missing the insincerity in his voice narrowed his eyes. Little brat, he thought.

"Why?" Tim said.

"Um.....wha?" Dylan asked.

"Why are you sorry?" His Dad said looking at him intently.

"Um because I sneaked away from Amber and Jimmy and I took Maddie and Jess with me." He said, dropping his head.

"And?" Tim said.

"We shouldn't have played tricks on people." He said.

"That right." Tim said. "Wait here. I'll be back in a minute." Dyl sat sadly with his hands in his lap scuffing the floor with his shoe. When his Dad came back through the door, he could see that he had something in his pocket but he couldn't see what it was.

Tim sat on the sofa next to Dyl and wasting no time, he lowered his pants and pulled him over his knee. He brought his hand down hard on the already slightly pink bottom. Dylan started to cry. Tim felt bad having to do this again today but the kid was getting out of hand. He had to do something. He took a big breath to steady his nerves and brought his hand down again. Dyl tried to wriggle off his knee and his crying was even louder. Tim thought it best to get this over with as quickly as he took a firmer grip on his son and brought his hand down smartly four more times on each solidly on each cheek. Dylan howled as he desperately tried to escape his Dad's clutches. But determined to fix this, Tim held him firmly while he reached into his pocket for the Abby's hairbrush. He lifted his knee to tip Dyl forward a bit and brought the brush down soundly three times on each sit spot. Tim threw the brush down on the sofa and pulled Dylan into a tight hug. The very sad and sorry little boy clung onto his Dad's shirt like his life depended on it. Tim clung on just as tightly. "Shhh. It's ok now Dyl." He soothed as he rubbed his back warmly.

"I'm sorry Dad." He said. "I won't do any more pranks. I promise."

"I hope not Dyl." Tim said. "I don't wanna have to do this again."

"Me neither." he said sadly. "Dad?"

"Yeah Dyl?" Tim said.

"I learned somethin today." Dyl said.

"What's that son?" Tim said.

"Ambers real mean and scary when she's mad." Dyl said with widened eyes.

TBC


	68. Chapter 68

Thanks to those of you that reviewed. I appreciate you taking the time. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 68

Tony led Maddie into the suite where Ziva was waiting with her arms folded. Maddie gulped. Her eyes filled with tears as she looked at the two angry adults. It wasn't fair. At least Jess and Dyl got to be together. She felt all alone. She missed her Mommy and Daddy. The tears welled up burning her eyes as they threatened to spill down her cheeks. Ziva took her hand and sat down on the sofa. When she was standing right in front of her she took both of her hands in her own and put her face every close to Maddie's.

"Maddie. You should not have followed Dylan. It was very naughty. Yes?" she said gently. The gentle tone was her undoing. The tears finally spilled over the top of her lashes and ran down her face.

"I want my Mommy." She said. "I.........didn't mean it." Tony stood by helplessly running his hand over his face. He had been mad before, but now he just felt sad for this poor little thing. She was obviously missing her parents and........well let's face it he was a sucker for little girls tears. He was about to bend down and tell her that it was OK now and that everything was over, but the look Ziva gave him made him retreat.

"Whether or non you meant it, you still did it. You should have listened to Jimmy and Amber. They were in charge." Maddie dropped her lip and it started to wobble. Ziva stood her up and smacked her bottom three times. "You must do as you are told." Big tears continued to roll down Maddie's cheeks and Ziva cuddled her to her before she stood up and took her into the other room. She stuck her head out and told Tony to order up some food for Maddie. After bathing her and putting on her pyjamas and feeding her, Ziva and Tony put Maddie to bed.

Tony called Sarah to see if she and Zac could come and baby sit a sleeping Maddie so he and Ziva could go and have dinner with Tim and Abby, Jimmy and Amber and Ducky in the McGee's room. They jumped at the chance. It meant that they could cuddle up on the sofa and watch a movie in peace.

Tony and Ziva arrived at Tim and Abby's first. "Hey guys." Abby said. "Maddie asleep?"

"Yes we did the same as you did with Jess, supper and bed. No dessert." Tony said.

"So you didn't spank her again then?" Tim said to Tony.

"Na......the ninja smacked her bottom a few times but she'd had enough today I think." Tony said. Abby's eyes went wide.

"You did?" she mouthed to Ziva. "Well, might be time you two thought about your own family you know. You're good at it."

"I agree." Tim said with a big smile. "I think you handled Maddie well. Besides, why should you miss out on all the drama. Ziva glanced at Tony but looked away just as quickly.  
"We don't miss out on all the drama . We're always there for yours remember." Tony said with a smirk.

A knock on the door signalled Jimmy and Amber's arrival. As soon as they walked through, Abby fell all over them. "Are you OK?" she said to Amber. "I'm so sorry the kids were so naughty. I don't know what's got into Dyl. I said to Timmy, that I wonder if he's got an addict.............." Tim put a drink in Abby's hand.

"No addiction Abs. You know that. He's just plain naughty at the moment." Tony grinned. It was too good an opportunity to pass up with out a poke.

"What kind of addiction Abs?" he asked seriously.

"I just wondered, cos it seems like he can't stop. I thought it might be an addiction to doing Pranks." She said. Tim rolled his eyes.

"Don't encourage her Tony." He said.

"What?" Tony said innocently. "You know I think I might have heard of that. I mean people get addicted to all kinds of things. Cigarettes,gambling, alcahol,caf-pow..........."

"SEE! That's what I tried to tell Timmy." Abby said animatedly. Tim took her arm.

"Abby stop. He's pulling your leg." He said. "Dylan is not addicted to anything,he was just trying to be funny and he went too far."

"You don't know that McGee." She said a little quieter.

"Yes Abby I do." He said looking at Tony disapprovingly. "And you two?" he said looking at Jimmy and Amber. "I'm so sorry that they behaved so you have your baby we owe you one."

Amber looked embarrassed. "While we're all apologising, I'm sorry that I whacked the kids. I just got so frustrated.............." she started.

"Are you kidding me?" Abby said. "They were little monsters. Nobody blames you Amber, although I was a little surprised. Amazing what hormones can do." She said grinning. Amber smiled a huge smile. It was a big relief that nobody was mad at her, Jimmy said they wouldn't be but you can never be sure what's gonna happen.

"I have to tell you something funny Amber." Tim said smiling at the memory. "Dyl said he did learn something today....He said that you were real mean and scary when you're mad."

"He said that?" Amber said smiling. "And I thought no one would ever take me seriously."

"He took you seriously alright." Tim said approvingly.

Ducky arrived and greeted all the others warmly. "Children not awake?" he said. "Young Zac told me what happened. I must say I am surprised at Dylan. I've not had any trouble with him." he said. "Still I guess it's the natural order as children grow up that they should spread their wings a bit."

"MMMmmm." Tim said. "I'm afraid his wings are well and truly clipped for now." Abby rolled her eyes. "I don't think it's his wings that are giving him trouble tonight." She said. Tim shrugged.

"He had it coming Abby." He said with a look that dared her to argue.

"I know." She said. And she did really, it just didn't make it any easier to take. Especially when you knew what it felt like. A bit of empathy couldn't help but creep in.

After dinner they watched a movie until nearly all of them were asleep. Jimmy and Amber left, Amber was almost asleep on her feet. Ducky excused him self just after that and that just left Ziva and Tony and of course Abby and Tim, but they weren't going anywhere, it was their room. They were sitting back talking when the bedroom door creaked open.

"Mom? I need you." Dyl said.

"Sure Dyl, Ill be right there honey." Abby said as she got up to tend to she got into the bedroom she sat on the edge of the bed, while Dyl laid down on his tummy. He was obviously tired but couldn't sleep. "What's wrong Dyl."

He shrugged. "I don't know. I'm sad." He said. Abby's heart nearly broke. She lay down beside him on the bed and wrapped him up in a big hug.

"Why do you think you're sad?" she asked.

"Cos everyone's mad at me and Dad spanked me real hard and he used the brush and my ass still hurts." He said.

Abby looked at the door. "Don't say that word Dyl or you'll buy yourself even more trouble." She said quietly.

"See even you're mad at me." He said pouting.

"No, I'm not Dyl, not anymore. You're just upset because you're tired and feeling out of sorts and your bottoms sore. You'll feel better tomorrow." Abby said soothingly as she rubbed his back gently.

"Can you sing to me?" he said.

"Of course I can." She said. "Close your eyes and you'll be back to sleep in no time."

Out in the living room, the others waited patiently for Abby. Well Tony and Ziva waited patiently. Tim was wondering what the hell was keeping Abby. Dyl was in trouble, she should have just taken him back to bed and left him there. Eventually Abby came out, avoiding Tim's gaze. She knew he wouldn't have approved of her pandering to him like that. But it was hard, no one wants their kids to think they don't love them and he was genuinely hoped that nobody had noticed how long she'd been in there. But Tim had noticed and he had no intentions of just leaving it.

"What was the big problem in there Abby?" he said. Uhoh! When he called her Abby and not Abs that was usually the start of him being pissed. It started with the whole disapproval thing and then moved up to the impatient thing and then finished with him being thoroughly pissed off, which usually meant that the days or hours until her next spanking were numbered.

"He was just upset is all." She said.

"Why?" Tim asked.

"He thinks everyone's mad at him." she said, kind of filtering a little of what was said. Tim wasn't buying it.

"And?" he said. Abby sighed.

"He said that his bottom still hurts. That you spanked him real hard and you used the brush." She said, obviously not very happy with this.

"Look, I gave him maybe a half a dozen spanks with that hairbrush at the end of his spanking. That's all. He's going for the sympathy vote Abby." He said. "And I bet he got it too didn't he?" Abby looked everywhere but at Tim. Both Ziva and Tony had to smile. Abby really did look like one of the kids when she was in Tim's bad books.

"What makes you say that?" she said defensively.

"Oh I don't know.....Maybe the fact that you were gone for ages and now you can't look me in the eyes." Abby scoffed.

"I just sang him a little song to help him go back to sleep, that's all. He was sore and............."she started but Tim interrupted her.

"He was SUPPOSED to be sore Abby. It was a spanking. He was in trouble. It's supposed to make him remember how uncomfortable life can get when you disobey." He said. Maybe someone else needs a reminder, he thought. Abby poked out her tongue. Oh that'll help your cause, he thought.

Tony and Ziva waited patiently for the other two to stop their argument, but in the end, Tony gave up. He couldn't wait any longer.

"Guys?!" he said waving his arms around. "We've been waiting all night to tell you something. We waited until the others left and then you started arguing. Can you please save it for later?"

Abby and Tim sat up and shut up. This sounded big. Tony looked at Ziva and nodded.

"Tony and I have adopted two boys. Twins." Ziva said smiling. But as the words left her mouth her eyes filled with happy tears. Tony hugged her.

"We wanted a family like you guys, we still might have a baby at some point but we wanted these kids. They're a year older than Dylan." Tony said, happiness just lighting up his face. "Their names are Kyle and Michael."

Tim and Abby said nothing. They were totally speechless. Until Abby burstinto tears and leapt on top of Ziva. "Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God!!!" she said. "You're gonna be a Mom! That is soooo wonderful." She managed to choke out between sobs. "I can't believe I'm gonna be an Auntie Abby! And you're going to be an Uncle Tim." She said as she now enveloped Tony in a big hug. "And that means Tony, You're gonna be a Daddy at last!"

TBC


	69. Chapter 69

Thank you as always for your review. I appreciate them all and I love reading them. I hope you enjoy this chapter though it is a little short :)

Chapter 69

They cracked open some champagne to celebrate the happy occasion. Tony explained that they were to pick the boys up next weekend.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Abby said I would have loved to help you out or I don't know do something.

"We wanted it to be a surprise." Ziva said. "We have been to meet the boys and spend time with them."  
"What are they like?" Tim asked with a grin. He still couldn't quite believe that this was all happening. He couldn't wait to see Tony as a father. He was great with their kids. He was great with kids in general and he was sure that Ziva would be a fine mother. Probably a little stricter than Abby, but then, that wouldn't be much of a stretch, he thought. He loved Abby to death and she had come along way, but she was a soft touch sometimes. He wouldn't really have her any other way.

"Well." Tony said. "They're fraternal twins not identical. They're very close. They're a bit of a contradiction though I think. Their files say that they have some anger issues and they have been known to steal and lie, but when we've been with them, they've been perfect angels." Tony said proudly. Ziva nodded and smiled.

Tim and Abby looked at each other. Dyl had been a perfect angel when they first got him too. He wasn't a bad kid now. But there had been a honeymoon period where he had been almost a 'Stepford' kid. Those days appear to be gone, Abby thought with a smile. Of late Dyl was certainly anything but a 'Stepford' kid. More like 'Dennis the Menace'. This wasn't the time to burst Tony and Ziva's bubble though. They deserved to have their own honeymoon period if they were lucky enough to get one. Jess had been another matter entirely. She had latched on to Tim, and didn't want a bar of anyone else at first. Now she was almost a Momma's girl. Yep it was a lucky dip. But, it all seemed to work out in the end.

"Well if you ever need any help or advice....." Tim said.

"Do not worry. We will probably live on your doorstep." Ziva said. "I will need your help this week Abby if that is OK. I need to purchase things for their room and clothes, enrol them in school etc."

"Where are they going to go to school?" Abby asked.

"We were thinking the same as your kids." Tony said."Can't wait to meet Sister Mary Clarence.

"That'd be great!" Abby said. "Next time there's a bake sale we could do it together, you me and Kim." Abby said. Ziva smiled. She hadn't really thought that far ahead. "I can just see it now. I bet your boys and Dyl and Toby are gonna be best friends."

"I hope so Abs." Tony said. "Anyway we better get going; we've left Sarah and Zac alone long enough. Speaking of which, I almost forgot, Jess tells me you were doing push ups in bed this morning Probie!" Tim went white. Abby giggled. Ziva hid a smirk. "And apparently, you had your wife lay underneath you to count?" he teased. "You know, they really are more effective if you do them on a hard surface like say? The floor!"

"Very funny." Tim said as the colour crept up his face.

"No really Probie, if you want we can go to the gym and I can show you.............."

"Stop right there." Tim said. "I don't need you to show me anything." Abby was trying really hard not to giggle anymore but she was fast losing the battle. Tim flashed her a warning glare. What else could she do, she stuck her tongue out. It was funny.

"You're such a prude Tim. We got caught, deal with it." She said. Abby went and kissed Tony on the cheek and hugged Ziva. "We're really happy for you." Abby said.

Tim hugged Ziva and shook Tony's hand. "We really are." He said. "I can feel some fun and games coming though."

"Bring it on." Tony said. "I've been ready for this for a while."

After they had gone, Tim took Abby's hand and lead her to the sofa. "Sit." He said. Abby rolled her eyes. "Don't be doing that Abs. I just wanna talk."

"About?" she said.

"I think you know what about." He said.

"It's about Dyl." She said. "Tim he was really upset. He just wanted me to spend some time with him, that's all. He couldn't go to sleep."

"And." He said waiting. He could almost hear Abby's brain ticking over trying to decide how much to say. "Be careful Abs with your answer."

"Oh alright I sang to him." she said. "Is it that big of a deal?"

"Yeah, it kind of is Abby. He's in trouble. He did some terrible stuff today. When he came out you should have taken him back and put him back to bed. And then you should have left him there and come back out.A little wallowing never killed anybody."

"But he thought that I hated him. I was just trying to show him that I loved him." she said.

"Abby, he knows that you love him. This is not a popularity contest and you aren't his friend, you're his Mom. Sometimes you have to do stuff that's gonna make you not so popular. That's your job."

"But........."Abby said. She knew that Tim was right but he just didn't understand what she was feeling. The kid was hurting, inside and out.

"No buts." Tim said. He knew it was hard for her and he did sympathise, but what was the point of punishing the boy if Abs was just going to go and comfort him. Abby narrowed her eyes and stuck out her tongue. "Very mature Abs."

Tim held out his hand for Abby and she took it begrudgingly but the look she gave Tim made it clear that she was far from happy about being reprimanded about Dyl. He shook his head and slapped her bottom hard as she walked past.

"Let it go Abs and stop being a baby." He said.

"I'm not." She pouted.

"Sounds like it." Tim said.

"You won't even listen to me." She said. Tim sighed.

"Go ahead, what do you have to say?"

"I just wanna say that I don't think it's wrong to listen to Dyl after he's been punished. He just needed me, that's all." She said.

"Your opinion has been duly noted. Now I still say, don't pander to him when he's in trouble." He said with a raised eyebrow daring her to argue. She didn't, but she did stomp off and slam the bathroom door. Tim shook his head sadly and went back out to the living room and turned on the TV. He was sitting there by himself when Sarah came home.

"Hey Tim." She said frowning. "Why are you sitting out here all by your self?"

"No reason. Waiting for the bathroom." He said. She looked at his face. They'd had an argument. Hopefully not a bad one. "Everything OK Tim?"

"Fine." He said. "You go on to bed." She bent over and kissed him on the cheek before going into the bedroom and quietly shutting the door. Tim flicked the channels over and over, eventually settling on the news, which he didn't really watch or listen to anyway.

After a while, he got up and went back to the bedroom. Abby was already in bed with her back turned. He sighed and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed.

The next morning, Tim woke up to find Abby still with her back to him. He tried to put his arm around her but she shrugged him off. He sighed. She was obviously awake, just intent on ignoring him.

"Abs, we need to talk." He said.

"Weren't interested in talking last night." She said.

"Abby I can't let you undermine me when Dyl has been really naughty like that, it's too important. He could get in real trouble if he keeps that stuff up."

"Hmmff." Was the only reply.

"Abby I WANTED him to lay in there and feel sad and think about what got him there. He was feeling sorry for HIMSELF. He would have moved on to the feeling really sorry if you'd left him alone. But going in there and soothing him justified the fact that he felt hard done by." He tried to explain. "Will you turn around and talk to me?"

"No!" she said pulling the comforter around her tighter.

"Abby, I swear, I'm trying to be patient but if you keep acting like one of the kids, then you're not leaving me a lot of options here."

"What are you gonna do spank me? For having an opinion?" she said childishly.

"Not for having an opinion, but for acting like a total brat yourself and refusing to even try and work things out like an adult. Yeah I think that might be just what you need." He said as he threw back the covers. Before Abby knew what had hit her, literally, he had her pyjama pants down and his hand firmly on her back to hold her in place as he brought his hand down hard.

"Ow Tim!............ smack. Stop!..............ouch,ow, OW!.... I'll talk now.......smack, smack, smack...... I promise!" Tim stopped spanking and pulled her back against him.

"I'm sorry." She sobbed. It hadn't even been that bad of a spanking but Abby felt miserable. The fact that she'd spent the entire night angry hadn't helped. There hadn't been many nights since they were married that she'd allowed a fight to go over night and filter into the next day, and it had left her feeling drained, lonely and out of sorts. Now she had a burning backside but she did feel a little better. She melted into Tim's arms and buried her face in his chest as he hugged her to him tightly and she knew that he'd been feeling it too.

"Do you get it now Abs?" Tim asked.

"Yeah. I always did. I guess I didn't want to admit it to myself." She said.

"Admit what?" he said.

"That there was a slight possibility that I could be in the wrong." She giggled.

TBC


	70. Chapter 70

Thankyou all for you reviews and alerts even though I'm really terrible at review replies, I read all of them and appreciate every one. I'm just slack. So sorry about that. I'm also sorry that I didn't get a chapter up at all yesterday. Kids sport has been crazy lately. Hope you enjoy this chapter, I hope to get another one up tomorrow but it's Mother's Day here so another crazy day.

Chapter 70

Sunday lunch found everyone back together in the dining room before they were set for an early flight home. Almost everyone was there, but the McGee's were yet to arrive. Wherever they were on Sunday they got together for their usual family lunch.

The next day would be a work day the same as usual. Gibbs and Kim had had their brief honeymoon. Although it had been a fine idea to elope, it also meant that there hadn't been time to arrange a proper honeymoon. Neither Gibbs nor Kim minded. They had everything that they needed at home. Both were eager to take Maddie home and start their new life as a family. Maddie was certainly glad to have her Mommy and Daddy back, she hadn't moved from Gibbs' side since they collected her that morning and she was now happily perched between her parents. Kim was just plain happy. Happy with her new husband, happy with her new family and happy with her life.

Jimmy and Amber were contentedly holding hands and chatting to each other and to Ducky who was also chatting to Gibbs who was on the other side of him. Although their few hours of babysitting yesterday had run Jimmy and Amber pretty ragged, the fun dinner and a good night's sleep the night before had helped them recover from their ordeal.

Ziva and Tony were nearly jumping out of their skin with the anticipation of sharing their news. They wanted everyone to be settled and listening before they imparted the news of the exciting change that was about to occur in their lives. Their lives as in Tony and Ziva's but it would also effect the rest of their family as well, especially the kids, who they hoped would find room for another two in their little gang. So all of that meant waiting for Tim, Abby, Dyl and Jess. Finally Tony could see them exiting the elevator.

"Come on the McTardy's take a seat." Tony said as they got closer, raising his eyebrows. The look Tim gave him back said 'sorry.'. He knew they were eager to share their news with the rest of the family. Tony watched as both Abby and Dyl sat down carefully and smiled. He wondered if his kids would be as interesting as Tim's were. He kind of wouldn't mind it if his kids were a bit naughty. Naughty kids were never boring.

"OK. Now that everyone's seated, Ziva and I would like to share some exciting news with everyone. Well it's exciting to us, I hope it's exciting to you." He said

"Tony please, just say it." Ziva said eagerly.

"Ziva and I are.............." he started.

"Pregnant too?" Amber asked wide eyed.

"No not pregnant." Ziva said smiling, "Tony?"

"We have adopted twin boys. You'll all get to meet them next week when they'll be at the McGee's to join us next Sunday for lunch." Tony said. Immediately there was pandemonium as everyone started talking at once.

"Congratulations. Tony. Ziva." Gibbs said a bit stunned. The thought of Tony as a father was well something he just hadn't thought of and he guessed that they would have had a baby but instant fatherhood with Tony was going to be well..... exciting. "How old are they?" he tried to get in over all the noise.

"Eleven. They're called Kyle and Michael. They're great boss and so far when we've been with they've been really well behaved." Dylan's eyes had lit up. He hadn't said anything yet but he was ecstatic that the boys were now gonna outnumber the girls.

"Uncle Tony are you sure they're gonna be there next weekend?" Dyl said.

"Yep next Sunday." He said. Why don't you see if your Mom and Dad will let Toby come to lunch as well and then they could get to meet all their new friends at once." Tony said.

"Mom can he?" Dyl asked.

"I don't see why not." Abby said. "Do you Tim?"

"No it's a great idea. So long as you can stay out of trouble this week." Tim said looking at him pointedly. Abby glared at Tim. She just didn't know why he had to do that. Put sanctions on everything before anything even went wrong. Now if Dylan messed up then Toby wasn't going to be able to come to lunch. How fair was that? Tim didn't miss the look and sucked in a breath. What the hell did I say this time he thought. Abby was really not her self at the moment.

Everyone was still talking all at once when the meal arrived, but the look on both Abby's and Tim's faces hadn't escaped Gibbs notice. He'd been preoccupied of late and things had obviously gone a bit awry. Kids putting bubbles in the fountain and running around the hotel by themselves pranking people they didn't even know. Tim and Abby obviously weren't right. Things weren't completely wrong with them but they weren't completely right either. And now there were another couple of little devils coming to join the crew. Mmm. Might be time for a little Gibbs parenting 101, he thought. One lunch time at work, he would think about that. But his first priority was gonna be sorting out whatever was up with Abs and Tim. He wouldn't mind betting it had something to do with Dylan's recent change in behaviour.

Tim frowned at the pout that had managed to creep back on to his wife's usually bright face. "Problem Abs?" he asked smiling and talking through his teeth so as not to alert the others that something was up.

Mimicking the same face, she answered. "Of course not McBossy boots."

"Okay......" he said again through clenched teeth. "How about we save this for later."

"What ever you say Timmy. You're the one in charge." Abby hissed sarcastically. Tim rolled his eyes and blew out a breath. Clearly he hadn't spanked her hard enough this morning. It was gonna be some plane trip back this afternoon.

Jess had wormed her way over to sit next to Maddie on her same chair and held her hand. They were chatting and giggling happily together about the new kids that were coming. Each of them secretly pleased that they were both boys. Neither would have wanted another girl to come between their special friendship. They liked it just the way it was. It'd be fun though for Uncle Tony and Aunt Ziva to have boy kids. Now when they did stuff there would be nearly as many kids as adults. Almost.

After dessert had been eaten Gibbs worked his way around until he was sitting next to Abby. Tim was over talking to Tony and Jimmy so it left the coast clear for he and Abs to have a little chat.

"Something wrong Abby?" he asked, his eyes searching her face for reactions as he waited for her answer. She shrugged.

"Dunno." She said. "Tim makes me mad sometimes." Gibbs grinned.

He felt a bit like he was talking to Maddie or Jess. "What's he done and what did you do to him first." He asked, tilting her chin up with his thumb and forefinger.

"I didn't do anything." she said pouting. Gibbs shook his head slightly.

"Try again Abby." He said a little more seriously.

"OH fine!" she said grumpily. "Dylan was in a lot of trouble for playing those pranks and Tim spanked him hard. He was hurting Gibbs."

"And?" Gibbs said knowing there was obviously more to the story.

"And, he said he needed me and he said that I hated him too and he was sad Gibbs." She said.

"Not seeing a problem here so far Abs. The kid had it coming, he was really naughty, but go on." Gibbs urged. Abby huffed out an impatient breath. "And it wouldn't be a good idea to give me attitude. I might not be as patient as your husband."

"He asked me to sing to him and I did. I tried to explain to Tim and he just said 'duly noted, don't pander to him when he's in trouble'." She said as she mimicked Tim's bossy voice. "So I got mad and I wouldn't talk to him. This morning he started telling me again that he didn't want me to undermine him when Dyl was in trouble blah blah blah."

"I think I can guess the next bit, no need to fill me in." He said sighing. "I have to tell you Abby, I'm still not seeing a problem. You must know by now the man you married, if you carry on like that, what do you expect?"

"Love and understanding?" she said almost smiling.

"Love? Abby you have that in spades. Understanding? Christ Abby the man's a saint the crap you put him through at times." This time Abby did giggle a little. "So you were ok when you sat down. What set you off this time?" he asked. Abby looked away. She didn't expect anymore sympathy than she'd gotten so far and the thought of getting yet another piece of a lecture didn't appeal. "Hey, I spoke to you Abby." She sighed.

"When Dyl asked if Toby could come to lunch this week, Tim HAD to say,that Toby could come if Dyl was good. It's like he has to turn every positive into a negative. He's such a hard ass about everything." she said. Gibbs for the third time moved her chin around so she was looking at him.

"Don't you THINK Dyl can be good for a week?" he asked, trying not to smile.

Abby twisted her head from side to side in an effort to come up with a good answer and get away from Gibbs hand. Wasn't working. "Of course he can Gibbs. He's not a monster. But it's hard for little boys to always be good." She said. "He just thinks he's playing."

"But according to YOU Abby, Tim made it very clear to him that he wasn't to pull pranks again." He said. Abby shuffled her feet. This wasn't going the way she would have liked. AT ALL. "So can Dyl follow instructions or not?"

Abby sighed with irritation. "Yes he can."

"Then he doesn't have anything to worry about does he?" Gibbs said. She said nothing. "DOES HE Abs." he said very firmly.

"No." she said begrudgingly poking out her bottom lip in a pout.

"And neither do you. If he messes up his chance then he only has himself to blame." Gibbs said. "Now stop giving your husband such a hard time." Abby would have loved to have poked her tongue out but she could sense that perhaps the timing wasn't quite right. If Timmy was a hard ass then Gibbs was Attila the Hun and he didn't appreciate attitude.......She could think it though inside her head.

Gibbs had had every intention of talking to Tim as well but after talking to Abby, he only needed to say a few words and when the opportunity arose, he did just that.

"You don't spank that one nearly often enough...............and you need to buy a paddle." He said.

TBC


	71. Chapter 71

Thankyou all for your reviews and alerts. I appreciate them all. I'm sorry if you thought that Tim was being a bit hard with Abby. Try and remember that he means well ;) For all of you that are just now celebrating mothers Day. Happy Mother's Day. For those of you that are too young to be a mother, fold the laundrey and clean up after yourself. Its better than presents. And when your Mom does some mundane thing for you say thankyou and don't just do it on Mother's Day.I hope you all enjoy this chapter and that you enjoy meeting Michael and Kyle :)

Chapter 71

That night after they'd finally made it home after the long flight and got the kids settled into bed, Tim went in search of Abby. He found her soaking in the bath. "Feel like company?" he asked. Abby looked up and smiled.

"Always Timmy, you know that." She said, shifting a little to make room for him. He removed his clothes as hastily as possible and sunk into the hot scented water behind her. She laid back and rested her head on his chest. Tim kissed the top of her head and left his head for a minute resting on the top of hers.

"How do you feel?" he said.

"Drained........and tired." She said.

"Me too...... Abs, I don't want to fight anymore. I don't like this...........tension." he said.

"Me either." Abby said relieved. "Can we just forget it and move on."

"Yep.......I love you Abs. And I love the kids, even when they are being bratty. He kissed her neck. That goes for you too." He said chuckling.

"We love you too Timmy. Even when you're being bossy and overbearing." she grinned.

"Good to know." He said.

"Yeah it is." Abby closed her eyes and savoured this rare intimate moment as she lay safe and loved in her Timmy's arms.

The next week flew over with no major trouble or catastrophes. The closer it came to the weekend the more excited everyone got to meet the new Dinozzo kids. Abby and Ziva and Amber and Kim shopped 'til they dropped buying everything that two boys could possibly need. Kim even stayed at Tony and Ziva's house to wait for deliveries of furniture and such. By Friday they were all organised. By Sunday, they were all at Tim and Abby's eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new family.

Tony and Ziva had picked up there boys after going through the same procedures as Abby and Tim had. They had taken all of Saturday to settle the kids in on their own and so far had not had a lick of trouble with were actually pretty quiet and they hadn't really even called them by name. Tony and Ziva decided to leave that until the boys brought it up themselves. That way they would knowthat they were ready to have the conversation.

Kyle and Michael were excited to be going to Tim and Abby's when they heard there were other kids there. On previous visits their new parents had told them all about their new NCIS family and the fact that Dyl and Jess had been adopted as well. Again this morning at breakfast they had talked about each member of the family and what they were like. Especially the kids. They really wanted to make a big impression. The boys chatted quietly to each other in the backseat of the car, about what they could do to make the other kids sit up and notice them. Kyle pulled a small writing pad out of his pocket and jotted something down, passing it to his brother. Ziva and Tony mustn't have yet perfected the eyes in the back of their head thing yet because they didn't notice a thing.

Kyle and Michael looked intently at each other communicating without words as twins have a tendency to do. Then Michael spoke up. His big brown eyes were wide with innocence as he brushed the long hair out of his eyes. "Um......what do we call you?" he asked.

"What would you like to call us?" Tony answered with a question of his own. He was really pleased that the subject was finally being brought up.

They looked at each other and shrugged. "Well technically I guess you're our Mom and Dad now, so can we call you that?" Kyle asked.

Ziva uncharacteristically had tears misting her eyes. "We would like that very much." She said, her heart melting at the site in the rear view mirror of her two new sons. Michael with long brown shaggy hair and brown eyes and Kyle with the same brown eyes but long unruly honey blonde curls, which he constantly shook out of his eyes. Michael smiled at Kyle and then spoke. "Mom, do you think we could stop at a market?" he asked innocently.

"I think we could arrange that but why?" Ziva asked. "What do you need?"

It was Michael that spoke this time. "We'd like to get some candy to share with Dyl and the others." He said. Tony looked at her and beamed.

"Nice one guys!" he said. "I'll just pull over up here a little." He took Ziva's hand and squeezed it. They had sure chosen some great kids, he thought.

When they got inside the market, Tony passed the boys a basket and told them to go and choose whatever candy they wanted and to meet them at the checkout. He and Ziva decided to go and pick out something special for dessert while they were there. The boys ducked down the candy isle and quickly chose a couple of packages of candy before going to the party supply isle. They had a brief look around before gathering a couple of packets of sparklers and shoving them in their jackets and zipping them up.

Tony took the basket and put the packets of candy on the belt with the other items that they'd chosen for dessert.

"Come boys." Ziva said we will go and get set in the car while you Dad pays for the items." She said. The boys grinned at each other as they managed to pass out through the exits with out any problems.

"All set?" Tony asked as he tossed the shopping bags in the back seat in the middle of the two boys.  
"Yep all set. Dad." They both said as he shut the back door and opened the driver's side. This was gonna be too easy Michael thought. I hope Dyl has a tennis ball, Kyle was thinking as he went through the procedure for what he had in mind in his head.

It didn't take that long before they were pulling up out the front of the McGee's. Every one came rushing out to greet them.

Ducky was the first to iintroduce himself. "Hello gentlemen." He said. "I am Dr Mallard but as I'm sure we are going to become very fast friends, you may call me Ducky."

"Pleased to meet you Mr Ducky." Kyle said.

"Hi Mr Ducky." Michael said.

"Just Ducky is fine." Ducky said beaming, quite impressed with the boys good manners.

Abby got out of Tim's hold and rushed up next, grabbing first one and then the other in an enormous hug. "You two are just the most adorable little things I've ever seen, except for my own gorgeous boy of course. Just look at that hair! It's sooooo cute. She said hugging them again. I'm Abby and these are my kids Dylan and Jess and this is Dylan 's friend Toby and this is our Maddie." she said pointing out each of the children. "Maddie is Gibbs and Kim's little girl." Jess and Maddie looked at the two new Dinozzo kids with adoration. "And this is my husband Timmy." Tim smiled and shook each of the boy's hands.

"Hey Michael. Hey Kyle." Dyl said as he waved. Toby did the same thing.

"Hello boys." Kim said, "I'm Kim."

"And I'm Gibbs." Gibbs said.

"And I'm Jimmy and this is Amber." Jimmy said.

"And I'm Sarah and this is my boyfriend Zac." Sarah said as they all beamed at their newest family members.

"Right. Lets eat." Tony said as they all filed inside. As usual everyone all talked at once as they piled the food first onto the table and then onto the plates and even while they ate their meal, the incessant chatter never stopped. The boys looked at each other. This was a fun place.

After lunch Dyl asked the kids did they want to go up to his room. So all the boys piled up to Dyl's room with the girls following behind. He was about to close the door practically in the girls faces but then he sighed, when he saw the hurt look on Jess's face he relented and opened the door wider so the girls could join them. Toby groaned but Dyl just shrugged. He hadn't forgotten the way the three of them had stuck together when they were in Vegas.

"You have some pretty neat stuff here." The boys said as they looked around. "What's your favourite thing to do for fun?" Michael asked.

Dyl and Toby looked at each other and both shrugged. "Anything." Dyl said.

"Dyl LOVES pranks." Jess said. "But he's not allowed anymore." Dyl shot her a look that told her to be quiet. Realising if she upset him they would be tossed out, she chose to be quiet.

"Do you?" Kyle said. "Well good. 'Cos look what I have." He said producing the sparklers.

"Me too!" Michael said. "Wanna have some fun?" Dylan looked apprehensive. That last spanking he'd gotten for the pranks had really hurt. He didn't really wanna go there again." Toby however hadn't been involved in any of that and he wanted in. They hadn't ever done anything with fireworks before. Admittedly sparklers were pretty lame fireworks, but probably the best they were gonna get.

"I'm in." Toby said.

"Can we trust them?" Kyle said, looking at the girls. Jess and Maddie looked at each other.

"You can trust us." Maddie said, taking Jess hand. Jess felt shy but not enough that she wanted to be left out. This made Dyl even more nervous. A lot of the trouble he'd been in had been for dragging the girls in, he didn't want to repeat that either.

"Jess, Maddie you'll get in trouble like last time, you should go and play something else." Dyl tried.

"Don't care!" Jess said boldly. "We wanna play with you." Dylan sighed. Seeing he was pretty close to giving in Michael decided to pull Dyl in the rest of the way.

"Look if you're too scared, that's fine, just go back to the others and we won't think bad of you." he said.

"I'm not scared." Dyl said untruthfully. He was pretty scared but he was also pretty excited. There was a certain rush that came from doing the wrong thing. He couldn't explain it. "What did you have in mind?"

The boys looked at each other and then smiled big matching smiles.

"Do you have a tennis ball and a pair of scissors?" Kyle asked. Toby ran and got the scissors from Dyl's desk while he delved around in his toy box looking for an old tennis ball. Michael took both items and the boys worked together to make a whole in the ball. Next they scraped all the gunpowder stuff off the edges of the sparklers onto a piece of paper. They all did this as it was pretty time consuming. Jess had run back to her room to get more scissors so that she and Maddie could help. It took them a while but they finally had an impressive pile of gunpowder on the paper. They'd kept back a couple of sparklers that would be used later.

"Whatta we do now?" Toby asked.

Michael made a funnel out of paper.

Kyle squeezed the ball effectively opening up the hole that they'd made in the top. Michael put the funnel in the hole and asked Dyl to hold it. He pushed all the powder into the centre of the paper and then tipped it until it all poured down into the hole in the ball.

"That's it nearly. Just a couple more things I have to do." He said. He then bent the wire at the bottom of one of the saved sparklers and pushed that down into the hole in the ball. "Do you have strong tape?" he said. Toby grabbed some out of Dyl's desk drawer and handed it to Kyle, who taped the sparkler in place.

"Done." he said

"What's it do?" Maddie asked curiously. It seemed like a lot of work to her to break a ball and put stuff inside.

"That's the really fun part." Michael said with a big grin. "We have to find the perfect place. He shoved there project into his shirt and the kids all filed downstairs and out into the yard. The Rex and Lulu raced up and jumped all over them enthusiastically, licking them and circling them with wagging tails. The twins looked at each other.

"Not out here." Kyle said. "It'll scare the dogs." They took the side gate and went out the front. Then they both saw the perfect place at the same time. "Dyl, we need matches. Do you know where your folks keep some?"

"In the camping stuff in the garage." He answered. This was giving him a really bad feeling but.........he did it anyway. As quietly as he could he snuck into the garage and grabbed the matches from inside the box that had a mixture of camping things inside and hotfooted it back out side before he could be seen.

Kyle and Michael told all the other kids to hide behind a bush as they planted the sparkler bomb inside the letter box. Kyle held the bomb still while Michael lit the makeshift fuse, then they slammed the lid of the letterbox and ran for cover as they waited for the explosive result. Unfortunately Tim and Tony were on their way out to check on the kids just as they were moving away from the box. They were knocked for six almost literally as the bomb exploded sending the entire letter box soaring into the air. The adults all came rushing from the house in time to witness two adorable cherubs with long hair, as they grinned sheepishly at their bewildered new parent.

"Sorry Dad. Sorry Uncle Timmy." They chorused sweetly. Gibbs brought Tony out of his trance with a slap to the back of his head.

"Oh yeah Dinozzo!" he said smirking. "These are definitely your kids."

TBC


	72. Chapter 72

Thankyou all so much for your reviews. I'm glad everyone seems to like our new family members. I think they're very cute ) I hope you all enjoy this chapter. It's really long but I couldn't see a place to break it. :)

Chapter 72

Tony shifted his weight from one foot to the other not really knowing how to handle this. I mean they only got their kids yesterday. And they'd been angels so far. Wanting to stop and buy candy for the other kids. That's when the hairs stood up on the back of his neck. It didn't take long for the penny to drop really, only the same amount of time that it took for a small but amused and curious crowd to gather along the front of the property, ok maybe not so small. The occupants of at least every house on the street and some from the next couple of streets were there to witness Tony's first real moment of fatherhood. This was his chance to show them all how it was done. How you dealt with these little problems deftly, at the same time ensuring that they never reoccurred. Yep! Tony Dinozzo's kids were going to be easily trained. Only trouble was, he didn't have a clue where to start. Fortunately, Ziva was a step ahead.

She was on the front lawn in a matter of minutes and had each boy firmly by the ear as she marched them into the house. Once it was obvious that the show was over and there was not going to be any bloodshed for them to witness, the disappointed crowd started to disperse. Tony rubbed his face his hands as he tried to think what to do. Gibbs could see the look of pure panic and indecision on Tony's face and he leaned in saying quietly. "Go with your gut." As he leant forward he saw a flash of colour in the bushes. He tapped Tim's arm to get his attention. Suddenly Tony felt better. He wasn't alone in this mess.

Dyl, Toby and the two girls felt like they hadn't even taken a breath since the mail box had flown up in the air. Unfortunately, spectacular as it was, Dyl could feel his freedom and ability to sit in the near future fly away from him as surely as that mail box had left it's perch at the front of his house. The feeling of dread that was settling in his tummy only intensified as three sets of feet stopped right next to the bushes that the four of them were hiding in.

Jess started to cry as she was hauled out of the bush and slapped hard on the bottom. Dylan gulped. If Jess was in the sh.........probably not the best time for that kind of language, even if it was just inside his head. If Jess was in that much trouble then he must..........He didn't have time to finish his thought before he was unceremoniously yanked from his safe haven and catapulted into the house with the mother of all whacks to his backside. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Toby's Dad smacking his butt all the way to his house while he yelled something that he couldn't understand, it was that kind of yelling that parents did when they had lost MOST of their control but they were still trying not to curse. All he could tell was that it was loud. His Dad wasn't yelling. That wasn't a good thing. It wasn't the quiet sort of it's over now go to your room. It was more the dangerous quiet that always came before really big trouble.

As Gibbs grabbed Maddie's arm, she predictably went for the sympathy vote.

"They made me come out here Daddy! I didn't know why. I didn't do anything." she cried. She cried even louder as Gibbs landed a hard smack to her bottom and told her to get inside.

Tony by this stage had got himself together and had gone inside to help Ziva with the twins. Jimmy almost laughed but wasn't quite game as he looked at all the kids in corners. So many now that they had to move some to another room. Abby had gone out the front to gather what was left of the inside of the mailbox so that she could see what the bomb had been made of. Tim had gone upstairs to Dyl's room where thankfully, they hadn't taken the time to get rid of any of the packets. Now all the adults were in the kitchen with the evidence spread all over the kitchen table. The packets that the sparklers had come from, several pairs of scissors, some pink some blue, tape and lots and lots of wires that were left after they had been scraped of their gunpowder and a couple of spent matches and bits of burnt mailbox with some of next doors roses still attached. That was where Abby had eventually found the remnants of the mailbox.

"What do we have?" Gibbs said as he shut the kitchen door. They had left Ducky guarding the prisoners with Amber.

"Well." Abby said with a sympathetic sideways glance at Ziva. "We have several empty packets of sparklers that have come from the Shop Rite supermarket. Tony and Ziva looked at each other.

"That's where we stopped to get some candy on the way here." He said quietly. "And we didn't pay for any sparklers."

"So...... they have stolen, as well as nearly blown up our friend's house, not to mention their children." She said obviously badly ticked off. Gibbs put a calming hand on her shoulder.

"What else do we have Abs?" he asked.

"Well, we have several sets of scissors, some from Dylan's room and some from Jess's room." She said in Ziva's direction.

"Which would indicate that all the kids were probably involved not just yours." Tim said. He had been where they stood and he couldn't help but feel sorry for them. The fact that their honeymoon period had barely lasted five minutes had to be disturbing. The fact that Dyl had been involved in yet another prank was disturbing in itself. What the hell were they supposed to do with him now. He knew one thing that he was going to do. He motioned over Jimmy and Zac and asked them a favour. They both nodded sadly and headed up the stairs.

"I am so sorry for the damage. Tony will come in the week and repair the mail box." Ziva said. "I do not know what to do first."

"I think we should look at their hands before we do anything else." Abby said. "Whoever was involved in scraping the sparkler sticks should still have the residue on their hands and clothes."

They all filed into the living room and Gibbs let out a loud whistle. "Front and centre all of you." He said. The kids all filed out of their respective corners and lined up where Gibbs pointed.

"Hands out in front of you." Tony said sternly. Gibbs smiled. Tony seemed to be finding his stride. The kids slowly shuffled around none of them complying fast enough for Tony. "NOW!!!" he bellowed. Five sets of hands were suddenly thrust out for inspection. Abby walked along the line taking each little pair of damp and sweating hands and checking them for the residue. She even pulled out their T shirts a little to see if any of the sparkly powder had escaped onto their clothes. Turning to the others she nodded. It was clear that all the kids had had some part in the making of the sparkler bomb. Although the sad fact was clear to Tony and Ziva that their little darlings had been the ring leaders, as they were the ones that stole the sparklers in the first place. Not to mention the con job of getting them to stop for candy in the first place.

Ziva walked along the line with her hands behind her back until she stopped in front of Michael. "How did you light this bomb?" she asked as she stared intently into his eyes. Quick to save his brother, Kyle jumped in.

"I got some matches." He said. Ziva then turned her withering glare to her other son. She had to make herself resist those big brown eyes and expression of feigned innocence, so that she could get to the bottom of how this all came about.

"And where did you 'GET' the matches from." She asked in a tone that brooked no nonsense. She leaned in towards him. "The truth." Kyle looked up at the ceiling and down at the floor but the answer didn't seem to be written anywhere.

"Um..... I..." he started but before he could finish, Dyl stepped forward. He didn't want these kids to take the blame for his part in this. They would never trust him if he just stood there and let them take the blame.

"Um..." Dyl started, as he looked from his Dad to his Mom who both had their eyes glued on him. "I kind of got the matches from the camping stuff." He said.

"How do you kind of take something from the camping stuff?" Tim asked. "You either did or you didn't."

"I did." Dyl said.

"Where are the rest of the matches now?" Tim asked. Michael shuffled from foot to foot and lowered his gaze, only to find his Dad's shoes directly in his line of sight. As he looked up he found that Tony had his hand out waiting for the matches. Digging deep into his pocket, he picked up the offending items and dropped them into Tony's hand.

"Sorry." He muttered.

"Mmmm." Tony said.

"I think that maybe it might be best if we take this home and deal with it there now." Tony said as he looked from his boys to Ziva and then to the others.

"Yeah, us too." Gibbs said as he picked up Maddie and he and Kim headed towards the car.

"Dyl, Jess, Rooms now!" Tim said sternly. They looked at their friends sadly and moved towards the stairs. "Move!" They did, as fast as their legs would carry them. Not long after though two heads appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Someone's stolen our stuff." Dyl said. Jess nodded.

"No one stole it Dyl. I had it taken out of there. You can have it back when you can remember how to do the right thing."

"That's not fair!" Dyl shouted. "I want it back!" He regretted the words as soon as they'd left his mouth but it was too late Tim was on his way up the stairs two at a time. He had landed a half a dozen hard smacks before Dyl could even get back to his room.

"Anything else you have to say?" Tim said. Dyl shook his head and rubbed his bottom at the same time. "Good. I'll be back in a little while." As Tim walked back downstairs he could hear Jess crying quietly at the loss of her dolls. He closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath. Sometimes it feels as though they don't even skip a beat before getting into the next bit of mischief. When he went downstairs the only people that were left were Abby of course, Sarah and Zac and Amber and Jimmy. They were sitting in the dining room eating dessert. Abby raised her eyebrows as Tim sat next to her.

"What happened?" she asked. Tim rolled his eyes.

"Just Dyl expressing his displeasure at losing his stuff." He said. "Just a few whacks Abby for his smart mouth. I haven't dealt with the other stuff yet.

"Is Jess ok?" she asked.

"She's sad Abby. She lost her dolls, and she's gonna get a spanking. I don't expect her to be happy about it. Or Dyl for that matter, but there would have been a lot more crying around here if someone had lost an arm or their eyesight.....Anything could have happened." Abby shuddered and nodded her head. For once she was in complete agreement with Tim. Jimmy hid a smirk. Abby's eyes shot up.

"Do you think this is funny Jimmy Palmer!" she said as she narrowed her eyes at him. He raised his hands in mock surrender.

"No Abby No!" he said. "But you have to admit that the look on Tony's face when he saw what his little angels had done. Was PRICELESS!" he said. The others all smiled in agreement, although none of them laughed out loud. They didn't want the kids to think they thought this was in anyway funny.

You have to admit, they're pretty cute looking kids." Amber said. Sarah nodded.

"They're adorable. I love their hair." Amber nodded in agreement. Even Abby was smiling at this.

"They are sooo cute she said. Tim rolled his eyes.

"I'm pretty enamoured myself, particularly with their theft and bomb making skills." Tim said sarcastically.

"Oh Timmy. They're just little boys. They made a mistake. Don't forget the antics Dyl and Jess got up to when we first got them." she said.

"I know. I know it's all knew and they're doing the whole trying everyone out thing, but I don't recall so far anything getting blown up. BLOWN UP Abby! They made a bomb." He said.

"You always look at the negative Timmy. We really need to work on that." She said. Tim just looked at her. Thank God they weren't their kids. Abby really was smitten and he would have had a battle with her over these two, he could tell.

In the car going home Tony and Ziva didn't say much. Ziva however was watching the boys through the rear view vision mirror. The boys were both in BIG trouble they knew that much. What exactly that meant they weren't sure. Dad seemed to be taking the same way home that they'd come so that was a good thing. Hopefully he wouldn't be taking them back. Glancing at each other and then the front, Kyle decided to clear the air a bit and ask.

"How much trouble are we in?" he asked.

"A LOT!" Tony said. Kyle looked at his brother who was looking really nervous.

"What exactly does that mean? Are we grounded?" Kyle asked. Tony looked at Ziva.

"I think we will talk about this at home." She said.

"But........" Kyle started again.

"No Buts!" Tony said. "You heard your mother." Kyle looked at Michael and smiled. At least he'd referred to Ziva as his mother. They were safe. Sort of.

Kim could feel a headache coming on as they drove home. This was a new one even for Maddie. Being involved in home made bombs. She was six. What the hell would she be doing when she was a teenager?

"I didn't get dessert." Maddie said as she tried to communicate with the silent adults.

"No you didn't." Gibbs said. "It wasn't an oversight. I wouldn't be counting on dessert for a while if I was you." Maddie opened her mouth and screamed. Gibbs blinked. He hadn't heard that kind of blood curdling tantrum screaming in a while.

"Cut that out!" he said. Maddie's answer was to kick the seat as hard as she could.

"I hate you Daddy. You're mean!!!!" she yelled. But just as she was about to kick the seat again she felt the car veer to the right and stop. Uh oh, she thought. The kicking may have been just a bit too much. While she was collecting these thoughts her door swung open and she was unbuckled and lifted from her seat. Gibbs tucked her under one arm and smacked her several times hard enough to make her bottom sting even through her jeans. He dumped her back in her seat and buckled her back up, climbed back in his own seat, slammed the door and started the car back up. The rest of the way home all they heard was sniffling. Now Kim wasn't getting a headache. She had a fully fledged one. She hunted in her bag for some advil.

As Tony pulled into the driveway Michael and Kyle made no move to remove their seat belts or to get out of the car. Tony and Ziva opened up a door each and waited. Slowly they undid their belts and climbed from the car. "Living room." Tony said. They followed the kids into the house and sat on the coffee in front of them. "Speak." Tony said.

"I don't know where you want us to start." Kyle said.

"From the beginning." Ziva said. "When did you first decide to do this thing."

They looked at each other. "In the car on the way to Uncle Tim and Aunt Abby's house."

"Why?" Tony said. Michael looked at Kyle and Tony couldn't help but notice for the first time that Kyle always seemed to be the spokesperson. "Michael."

"We like to make an impression." He said.

"Well you did that." Tony said sarcastically.

"He means with the kids. We wanted them to notice us." Kyle said.

"Another objective achieved. Why did you steal?" Tony said.

Kyle looked at him like he was crazy. "Because there's no WAY that you would have bought them for us." He said rolling his eyes.

"You're in a lot of trouble here. I'd knock off the attitude if I was you." Kyle shrugged. "Do you know how dangerous that was?" Tony asked.

"You could have blown off your hand, or worse." Ziva said. Michael put his head down. "And what of the other children?"

"We made em stand behind the bush." Kyle said. In his mind it was cut and dried. "Nothin was gonna happen to them."

"You never play with fire! You never play with any type of explosives! You certainly NEVER put them together." Tony said. "DO YOU HEAR ME?" Both boys nodded although Michael looked near to tears. "You never STEAL Either." He said. "If you want something, then you can ask for it. If we say no then it's because we have a reason. End of subject. Clear?" Again they nodded. "Now go upstairs to your rooms I'll be up in a minute."

When they'd gone, Tony turned to Ziva. "What do you think?" he asked. Ziva smiled broadly.

"I think you did fine." She said.

"Thanks." He said. "But that's not what I meant. I meant, what do we do now?"

"You are their father. You have to spank them." she said.

"Figured you'd say that. I agree, but what else?" he said. "Do we ground them or what?"

"A week. No television. No dessert, no video games." She said. "They will be at work tomorrow with us anyway until we can get them enrolled and get their uniforms." Tony nodded.

"Ok then. I guess I'll just have to go and do the whole Dad thing." He said.

"Good luck my love." She said kissing his cheek as he rose up off the coffee table and headed for the stairs.

When they got to their house, Gibbs kissed Kim on the cheek. Why don't you take something and go and lie down. I'll sort out Missy and then I'll come and make you some tea. She smiled gratefully and gave Maddie a disapproving glance before she headed inside to find something for her headache. Gibbs opened Maddie's door and pointed to the house. She looked at him sadly and then followed her Mommy inside and continued up the stairs to her room. She cringed as she heard her Daddy right behind her.

"What did you do Maddie?" he asked. Maddie shrugged. "Tell the truth!"

"I helped scrape the stuff off the sticks." She said.

"Did you know that what you were doing was wrong?" he asked. Maddie nodded.

"Dyl telled us to play something else. He said we was gonna get in trouble. But I didn't know it was gonna break the mail box." She said.

"Did you know they were going to light it up with the matches?" he asked. Again she nodded.

"I'm sorry Daddy." She said.

"If you see someone playing with something dangerous like that again, you tell an adult, you don't join in." he said. "Come on." She walked over sadly and stood at her Daddy's side and waited. He lifted her up and put her over his knee. He brought his hand down hard with a loud smack. Maddie yelped. He spanked her bottom hard with another five whacks and then stood her up and hugged her tight. "Don't ever scare me like that again. OK?" he said. Maddie nodded as she sobbed into his shirt. "And no dessert for a week."

Tim walked up the stairs and decided to deal with Jess first. As he opened her door she was sitting on the edge of her bed feeling very sorry for herself. "I'm not very happy with you miss." Tim said. Jess immediately started to cry.

"I'm sorry Daddy." She said. "Daddy....... it wasn't Dyl's fault....... that we did it. He tried........... to make us go away but....... we wanted to.......... play with the........ big kids." She said.

"I see. So you know that you did the wrong thing." He said.

"But we didn't know.......that.....the mail.....box was......gonna.......fly ...up in da air.............like a ....rocket." she said sincerely. Tim lifted her up onto his knee.

"That's why, you don't ever play with things you're not supposed to. Because you don't know what's gonna happen. That was very dangerous. Even before it was lit. You kids could have got the powder in your eyes, it was one of the naughtiest things you've ever done."

"You gonna spank me?" she asked. Tim nodded gravely. He bent her over his knee and brought his hand down hard. She started to cry harder. He felt like a heel, but he kept spanking giving her six in all. When he was finished he lifted her back up onto his knee, making sure to hang her bottom off the edge.

"If you EVER play with anything that has to do with dangerous things or fire again, I will take your pants down. Do you understand?" he asked." One week without your dolls Jess, if you can be good all week you can have them back on Sunday." She nodded as she sobbed quietly and he cuddled her to his chest until she'd calmed down.

A short while later he opened Dyl's door. "We seem to be having the same conversation again Dylan." He said standing over Dyl with his hands on his hips. Dylan scuffed the floor with the toe of his shoe; all of a sudden the floor was the most interesting thing he'd ever seen. "Nothing to say for yourself?"

"I'm sorry." He said quietly.

Tim sat next to him on the bed and lifted him up into his lap. "Well that's a start." He said. Dyl immediately hugged his Dad tightly and started to sob. "Why do you keep doing these things?"

"I.......don't know." He sobbed sadly. "I didn't wanna........but......i didn't wanna be left ....out. Toby.....wanted to....and the others.....said it would......be fun."

"Well I'm not happy with this Dyl, but there's one thing I'm a little happier with." Dyl raised his head for the first time. "Jess told me that you tried to get them to not join in. That was the right thing to do and it pleases me that you were thinking of your sister. But the even better thing to do would be to have NOT joined in and to tell an adult what the other kids were going to do." The look on Dyl's face told him that that was never going to happen and although he would never say it to him, but that he kind of understood. But, the choices you make in life include consequences. "Come on." He stood up and he tipped him over his knee. He started spanking with rapid fire spanks that took Dyl's breath away. The spanking didn't last very long but it felt as though his butt was on fire. He sobbed as Tim pulled him into a tight hug and rubbed his back. "Now, this is the very last time I want to have a discussion about pranks. You hear?" Dyl nodded sadly. One week without your stuff Dyl, if you stay out of trouble, you can have it back on Sunday."

Tony went to the first door that he reached. It happened to be Michael's. As he opened the door the little boy jumped. "Hey Dad." He said nervously.

"Hey." Tony said. He sat down on the bed close to Michael and put his arm around his shoulders. "We have a problem here." He said. "Don't we?"

Michael nodded his head.

"You and your brother were very naughty today. You know all the things you did. We covered them all downstairs. What we didn't cover was what we're gonna do about it all."

"What are you gonna do?" Michael asked.

"Well for starters, No TV, no dessert and no video games for a week." He said. "And I'm going to spank you both. What you did was very dangerous, that get's your a spanking. You stole, that will also get you a spanking. You ever do that again and it will get you a spanking on your bare bottom, but as this is your first time, you can leave your pants up. But watch it." Michael nodded furiously. "Come on." Tony said as he took his arm gently and put him over his knee. He brought his hand down with a hard smack in the middle of his bottom. Michael covered his face with his hands and held his breath. Tony brought his hand down a second time Michael started crying. Realising he didn't want to drag this out, he started to spank faster, not taking long to reach eleven hard spanks. He stood Michael up and pulled him into his arms. "Shhh, shhhh." He soothed. "It's all over now." Michael clung to him for grim death.

"I'm.......so...rry.....Da....d" he said.

"I know son." He said. "Why don't you go downstairs and see your Mom while I talk to your brother." He said.

As Tony walked into Kyle's room he realised straight away that this boy was very different to his brother. Not better or worse, but different.

"I heard. Your gonna spank me right?" he said cheekily. "Is that how you do things around here?"

"Sometimes, not always. But here's a tip, keep up that attitude and you're gonna find yourself over my knee on a regular basis. If you get my drift." Tony said. This little smart mouth needed nipping in the bud. But instead of being intimidated, it seemed to have the opposite effect.

"Whatever." He said.

"Pardon me?" Tony said. He was just about to tan this kid's ass and he was giving him attitude.

"I said whatever. You're gonna do it so just do it." He said.

"Oh I'm going to. But I want you to stop this attitude. Now your brother didn't give me attitude and he got his spanking over his jeans. Keep it up and you'll be getting yours over your underwear. Kyle thought this over and toned his attitude down quite a bit.  
"I'm sorry Dad." He said. "Can we just get it over with." Tony realised that he was scared and the attitude was actually false bravado.

"Come on." Tony said and he turned him over his knee. The same as he had with his brother he gave quite a short sharp spanking, giving him eleven hard smacks as fast as he could to get it over with. When he was finished he pulled him into a hug and realised that he was crying. Not loud crying like his brother but sad quiet crying that nearly broke Tony's heart. He gathered him in his lap and let him cry into his chest. "Shhh. Shhh. It's all over." He said. When Kyle had stopped crying Tony lifted his chin. "No more spanking this time, but if you do anything dangerous like that again, or you steal, you will be getting spanked on your bare bottom. Got it?" Kyle nodded. "And there'll be no dessert, no TV and no video games for a week."

"Ok Dad." He said. "And Dad? I'm sorry."

"I know son." He said.

TBC


	73. Chapter 73

Thank you all for your revies and alerts. I really appreciate them all. Today's chapter is for my baby, who turned nine today. I think he'd really like Kyle and Michael ;) I hope you all enjoy this chapter :)

And thankyou to Maudlin Muse for her idea of the twins in Abby's lab :P

Chapter 73

The next day the Dinozzos arrived at the bullpen with Kyle and Michael in tow. They had an appointment to meet with Sister Mary Clarence later in the morning and then they had to go and pick up the boys uniforms so that they could start school tomorrow. As luck would have it, they got a case as soon as they got in. Ziva took the two boys down to Abby's lab.

Never one to hold a grudge, Abby nearly crushed them with hugs as soon as they were through the door.

"Do you boys have anything to say to Abby?" Ziva said.

"Sorry Aunt Abby." Kyle said.

"Sorry Aunt Abby." Michael said straight after.

"That's OK." she said. "You have to be more careful. Someone could have gotten seriously hurt." The boys nodded. Kyle felt a little ticked. They'd already been in trouble at home and now Abby was lecturing them all over again.

Abby took the boys around her lab and introduced them to all of her babies and explained what each one she was done, she turned to face them. "OK. What would you boys like to do? There are cards or you can share my laptop and play Tetris. Kyle rolled his eyes. Abby narrowed her eyes. "Cards it is then." She said slowly.

The boys sat at Abby's desk and Michael started shuffling the cards by spreading them all out on the desk and mixing them all together. "I don't wanna play cards, that's lame." Kyle said. Michael didn't minf playing cards, but if Kyle had a better idea, he would rather do that. Just then, Abby stuck her head in the door.

"I'm gonna have to go and see Ducky for like five minutes. Can I trust you boys here or do I have to take you with me?" she asked. Although she knew that Ducky had a body on the table so she really didn't want to take them there unless she had to.

"We'll be good." Kyle said at once. Michael nodded. As Abby disappeared into the elevator, Kyle got a massive grin on his face. Shaking his blonde curls out of his face, he said. "Let's have some fun." Michael grinned.

"Whattya have in mind?" he asked. Kyle walked over to Mr Mass Spec. Laying his hand on the top he said. "You heard Abby, this baby can tell you what anything is made up of."

"So what?" Michael said.

"Let's put something in there and see what it's made of. Abby's not using it at the moment." He said.

Michael shrugged. "Like what?"

"I don't know what of you got in your backpack?" Kyle asked.

Michael dumped the contents of his backpack onto Abby's desk. Kyle started rifling through it, when he caught sight of the object that he thought would be interesting, he held it up in the air. "Yes!" he said. "A peanut butter and jelly sandwich." Michael smiled, that was perfect.

Kyle open up the Mass spec and jammed the unwrapped sandwich inside and then shut the lid. He found what looked to be the on switch and pressed it. Mr Major Mass Spec came to life with all of its lights and busy like whirring until, he started to cough and splutter like he had something in his throat. And then, as if he had actually choked to death, he gave one last death rattle before he gasped and died........Silence.

"OH SHIT!" Kyle said. Michael nodded.

"This is soooo not good." He said. They were about to make a run for it when Abby cleared her throat.

"AHhem!!!!" she said with her hands on her hips. "And what do you two think you're doing out of my office?"

"Um.......We were just....ah.." Kyle started to say. Noticing finally exactly where they were standing she froze.

"You didn't..." she said sadly, as if someone had hurt one of her children. "WHAT DID YOU TWO DO?" she asked more pissed than sad now. Michael started to tear up.

"Kyle?" she asked as she lifted the lid. Her mouth dropped open in shock at the horrible sticky mess that was inside. "Answer me this minute!"

"We....ll." he said.

"We wanted to see what it was made of!" they chorused.

"PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY!!!!" she shouted. "It's MADE OF PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY!!!"

"WE KNOW THAT!!" Kyle said. "But, we wanted to know if Mass Spec Knew!" he said trying desperately to explain. Abby stopped and thought. Much as she hated to admit it, there was some kind of logic there. Not enough though.

"You two......." she said pointing, are in a heap of trouble. She marched each one over to a corner and slapped their bottoms. "Don't move either of you. And God help you when Gibbs finds out I can't run tests on the evidence when they get back." Michael started to cry. Kyle gulped. Damn he thought, I didn't think of that.

When Tony and Tim brought the evidence down to lab when they got back form the crime scene, they found a furious Abby stomping up and down while she waited on the phone and two boys with their faces buried in the corner.

"What happened?" they said together.

"The Dinozzo twins!" Abby said angrily.

"What did they do?" Tony said almost afraid to ask.

"They broke Mr Major Mass Spectrometer." She said. Tony's eyes nearly came out of his head."And so far I can't even get a reapir man to come and look at it."

"How?.....What?........." he tried to ask but the words just wouldn't come out straight.

"They wanted to see what their peanut butter and Jelly sandwich was made of." She said. At his look of confusion she explained further." They wanted to know if Mr Mass Spec knew."

"I'm sorry Abs." he said. Tim lifted the lid and had a look. He got a scraper thing and started to clean out the gooey mess.

"I might be able to fix it Abs, I don't think it's gone all the way inside. I think it's just stopped the bowl thing from turning around." He stalked over to the twins.

"That is an expensive piece of equipment boys. You should know better than to touch it." He said.

"Sorry Uncle Timmy." They said together.

"Look I am going to take care of this, but we have to go and see Sister Mary Clarence." Tony said. Abby and Tim looked at each other and smiled.

"Good luck with that." Tim said. Abby raised her eyebrows. Oh to be a fly on the wall.

Tony sent both the boys to the elevator with an almighty whack on the bottom. "If we didn't have this appointment I would spank the daylights out of the pair of you. Your both very lucky that Uncle Timmy can fix things." He said as the doors closed behind them.

"I wouldn't be leaving them alone Abs in here again. They are a trouble waiting to happen." He said.

"They promised Tim." Abby said. "I had to see Ducky. I didn't want to frighten them with a cadaver."

"You know kids and promises." Tim said. Abby nodded.

"Too well." She said and then grinned. "How do you think the meeting with Sister Mary Catherine will go?"

Tim chuckled. "Interesting. Very interesting."

Tony and Ziva waited outside Sister Mary Clarence's office. They had both threatened the boys with serious repercussions if they misbehaved, but neither of them could relax. They felt like it was the calm before the storm. Ziva fiddled with Kyle's hair and tried to arrange his unruly curls off his face a bit. She actually thought they were adorable but she wasn't sure how Sister Mary Clarence would feel about them. Michael's hair was also long but not quite as unruly. Still they were beautiful boys, Ziva thought.

Sister Mary Clarence opened her door and invited them in with a smile on her face. "Pleased to meet you Mr and Mrs Dinozzo. And this must be Kyle? And Michael." she said as she shook each of the boys hands. "I hope you boys are going to be happy here. I believe you know the McGee children and Maddie Gibbs. It's a good start isn't it if you already know someone at the school." She said smiling. She handed Tony and Ziva some booklets to read.

"Thankyou." Ziva said. "I will read these tonight."

"Very good. It's information on our discipline policy and uniforms, homework....anything you need to know really. If you have any questions don't hesitate to call. Now how about a tour of the school, boys?" The twins gave her a shy smile. She stood up and shook Tony's hand." He almost winced. Tony didn't have very good memories of school principals and this whole thing was making him extremely nervous. He did his best to smile and come up with something intelligent to say but came up blank. The best he could come up with was a smile that very much mirrored his sons'. At Ziva's glare though he managed to choke out a, "pleased to meet you Sister Mary Clarence."

She replied politely with a smile. "And you Mr Dinozzo." They had their tour of the school which didn't really take very long. Tony breathed an enormous sigh of relief as he plonked himself back in the car. Ziva chuckled at the beads of sweat that poured down off his forehead. She leaned in and whispered in his ear. "You must have been a very naughty boy when you were at school." He looked shocked.

"Why would you say that?" he said.

"Because the mere sight of a nun in a Principals Office nearly sent you into a blind panic." She said.

"Did not." He said as he turned the air-conditioning to cool.

Ziva chuckled again. "Oh it sooo did." The boys sat quietly in the back not wanting to push their luck after this morning, while Ziva contemplated what kind of mischief her husband may have once got into while he was attending school.

When the boys saw what they were expected to wear for a uniform though, thoughts of being good didn't stay with them. Particularly Kyle. As Ziva held up his uniform to check the size, he shook his blonde curls in irritation. He would never be comfortable wearing those old fashioned clothes. And the shoes were horrible and hard looking. What was wrong with wearing sneakers? He wasn't even gonna go there with the tie. What was he forty? Michael was also looking at the school clothes forlornly but he probably wouldn't have said anything if Kyle hadn't spoken up first.

"This is crap!" he said. "I'm not wearing this stuff, it's for dorks."

"Do not speak in that way, Kyle." Ziva said. "You do not have a choice about the uniform. Everyone at the school wears it."

"Dyl wears it and so does Toby." Tony said. "And so will you." His tone warned Kyle not to argue, but Kyle wasn't the best at seeing trouble coming.

"I don't care who wears it. I'm not. It.....is....crap!" he said. Tony picked up the uniform off Ziva in one hand and his son in the other and dragged him off to the change rooms. Checking that all the stalls were empty, he turned Kyle around and tucked him under his arm and spanked him hard quite a few times. "Now put the uniform on." He said. "I'm going to get Michael."

"I'm not wearing it either." Michael said. "Kyle's right. Dorks wear this stuff."

"Is that right?" Tony said. "Well Kyle's attitude just got him spanked. Care to join him?" Michael mulled this over.

"I don't care." He said. "I'm still not wearing this stuff." Ziva sighed. Tony grabbed Michael and towed him in the same direction as he had taken his brother. He turned him around and tucked him under his arm and gave him the same treatment as he had Kyle. He thrust a uniform at him and told him to get changed.

When they had tried everything on and bought multiple sets of each uniform, they paid and went back to the car. Tony and Ziva sighed with relief while Kyle and Michael pouted in the back seat.

"Hungry boys?" Tony asked, he grinned as he watched them trying to hold firm. Kyle and Michael looked at each other and shrugged. There was no way they were wearing that uniform but what the hell. They were starving right? They had to eat.

Back at the lab, Tim was still cleaning out the Mass Spec. He was extremely frustrated. It was a painstaking process and he didn't even know if it was gonna work when he was finished. Those boys, he thought. They were cute, but trouble was obviously their middle name. Even Abby was pissed at them, and that was saying something. Tim turned suddenly when he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

"Boss." He said.

"What the hell is going on?!" he said. "Why isn't Abby running evidence?" he asked. Tim opened his mouth and closed it. He was finding it hard to come up with any kind of excuse that could cover this. "Spit it out McGee!"

"It seems that Kyle and Michael, wanted to see if the Mass Spec could tell what their peanut butter and jelly sandwich was made of." Gibbs rolled his eyes and sighed deeply.

"How much damage?" he asked. Tim shook his head.

"Not sure. I'm just cleaning it out. I'm hoping that when I'm finished, it'll turn back on." He said. Gibbs shook his head.

"Those boys are gonna be a handful." He said.

"No offence Boss, but I think they already are." Tim said.

They picked the boys up burgers and fries at a drive through and decided to get enough for the rest of the team as well. It was the least they could do under the circumstances. What their kids had done had probably set the investigation back by an entire day.

As they walked into the bullpen they found it empty. Not a good sign. Tony dialled Tim.

"McGee." He said.

"Where is everyone?" Tony asked.

"Still in the lab." He said. Gibbs snatched the phone off Tim.

"Get down here and bring those little devils with you." He barked.

"Yes Boss." Tony said to a dial tone. Gibbs had already ended the call.

TBC


	74. Chapter 74

Thank you all for your reviews and alerts as always I appreciate them all. I hope you enjoy this next chapter :)

A special thankyou again to Maudlin Muse who helped me again with some ideas in Abby's Lab :)

Chapter 74

"Boss wants us downstairs." Tony said to Ziva as he hung up. "He wants a word with the boys."

Ziva cringed. "I am not really surprised. They broke an expensive piece of equipment." She said. "What do you think....." She spoke quietly not needing to finish. The question was only meant for her husband but two little pairs of bat ears pricked up and weren't very impressed with their father's obvious reaction. They were in trouble with Gibbs. That couldn't be good.

Tony's eyebrows raised and he rolled his eyes. The boys looked at each other trouble.

"Come on boys, we'll eat down in the lab. Gibbs wants a word with you over the Mass Spec." he said. Together they moved the boys towards the elevator. When they got out at Abby's floor, it was Michael that spoke up first this time.

"I need to go to the bathroom." He said quietly. He didn't even need to look at his brother for him to know what he was thinking.

"Me too." Kyle joined in. His brother might be quiet sometimes but he was always thinking. Tony didn't want to keep Gibbs waiting any longer, so he showed the boys where the bathroom was and where they had to come back to, before he and Ziva went to the lab.

They entered sheepishly expecting an explosion from Gibbs.

"Where're the kids?" he asked bluntly.

"Head." Tony answered. Tim couldn't help but smirk, oh that was a mistake, he thought.

"By themselves?" Gibbs said incredulously.

"Ah.......yeah?" he said. Gibbs turned to Abby.

"Ring Palmer and if Ducky doesn't need him see if he can help us look." He said.

"Help us look for what?" Ziva asked.

"Your kids!" Gibbs said. "They're not still gonna be there." Tony rolled his eyes and headed out the door and towards the men's bathroom. Slamming open the door, he blew out a breath and his shoulders sagged as he realised what he'd done. He'd left two ingeniously devious little boys, who were about to be in big trouble with the scariest man ever alone. Damn! Predictably, they were gone.

Ziva had not hung around, she went straight up to the roof, worried that they might do something really dangerous. She couldn't find them anywhere up there. She was relieved at that ,at least. She wanted a chance to kill them herself before they hurt themselves. The rest of the team scoured the building, they couldn't find them anywhere. Security had been notified so they wouldn't get off the premises, it was just a matter of finding them in the building. Or the parking station. But it was a bit like finding a needle in a haystack.

They searched high and low for about an hour and a half. There was no sign of them anywhere. In the end, Abby had to call Kim and ask her to pick up the kids and bring them to NCIS. It was getting near to the end of school time and they were still looking for the boys. Abby decided to take a bathroom break before she chose another floor to search on. But as she went into the ladies bathroom on her floor, she noticed one of the stalls were locked. She smiled. Pretty smart place to hide except that she was practically the only person to ever use this bathroom. She went back outside briefly and text the others and then went back in.

"Come on out." She said. Nothing. "I know you're in there. Kyle, Michael, your Mom and Dad are on their way. You know that they pick locks for a living right?" The lock clicked and the door slowly opened and first one and then the other head came into view. Abby grabbed there arms and pulled them out of the cubicle and into a big hug. "We've been worried sick about you two."

"We were scared." Michael said. Kyle thumped him discreetly on the arm.

"We weren't scared. We just didn't want to hang around and get in more shit." Kyle said.

"For a start, if it's less trouble that you want, it'd be good idea to not say that word again. And running? Never the best idea. You always get caught and it makes things worse." They looked at each other and then put their heads down. "Look boys, if you decided that your first hobby is gonna be getting into constant mischief? Your choice. But around here? That'll make your second hobby getting spanked. ALOT. Think about it." Both boys hugged Abby tightly and she petted their curly heads. She really did love this hair. Maybe she should grow Dylan's.

The door swung open and Ziva came bursting in. She breathed a sigh of relief that her boys were ok, right before she landed a couple of hard smacks to each of their bottoms. Abby winced and loosened the boys grip, much as she really didn't want to, she released them to their Mom and discreetly left.

"We have been worried sick about you two! How could you run like that. You knew that we would look for you yes?" Ziva said. Softening her tone, she said. "We love you. Don't do that again." Tony and Gibbs burst through the door and although obviously angry, they relaxed slightly with relief at the sight of the two miscreant kids.

"I'll be upstairs. When you're finished with them, I'd like a word." Gibbs said. Tony looked at Ziva and they both nodded. Neither was sure what he intended to do but they trusted him. Their children had not only broken equipment but by running away they had disrupted most of NCIS for a lot of the day. Not to mention that Tim had had to stop working on the Mass Spec to help look, which had further disrupted the investigations? They'd had to send out the samples to another lab. Hopefully with the kids now found, Tim would be able to get the machine back in working order.

Back in the lab, Tim worked on the Mass Spec while Abby talked to Kim who had just come in to drop off Jess and Dyl.

"What'd they do this time?" she asked with a grin. Abby giggled.

"It's not funny Abby." Tim said nodding towards the children. She poked her tongue out at him behind her hand.

"They put a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in my Mass Spec." she said. Then when they were on their way down here, they told Tony and Ziva they needed the bathroom and they ran away. We've all been looking all over for them most of the day." Kim cringed.

"What'd Jethro say about all that?" she asked.

"Not a lot yet." Abby said. "But he wants to see them."

"Ouch!" Kim said. Jess, Maddie and Dylan looked at each other. They wouldn't wanna be Kyle or Dylan. Bein spanked by Gibbs was no fun. No fun AT ALL.

"Right Abs." Tim said. "I think I've got this cleaned out as much as I can, let's try something in it." Abby bounced around and found a sample to put in the Mass Spec. They fired it up and at least this time it turned on. They were prepared to wait a while for the result but were surprised when it dinged with a result fairly quickly.

"Uh oh!" Abby said cringing. "I don't think it's fixed Timmy." Tim came over to have a look. He shook his head irritably.

"Try something else Abby." He said. Abby fussed around and found a hair sample and put it inside. The machine whirred on and the lights all came to life, but after a relatively short time it was dinging again to indicate a result. Abby walked over slowly to see what Mr Major Spec had come up with this time. Same thing.

"Again." She said reading the results. "Peanut butter and jelly."

"You've gotta be kidding me. Your gonna have to get the repair man Abs, and good luck explaining THIS to them." Tim said. Abby looked at Kim and rubbed a hand over her face.

"Those naughty boys." She said. "I could spank them myself." As Abby did angry dialling on the phone to try for the repairman, Dyl got a book out of his back pack and started to read. There was no way he wanted to get under anyone's skin today. They were all cranky already.

In the bathroom Tony looked at Kyle and Michael with disappointment written all over his face. They looked down at their shoes unable to look their Dad in the eye. "With me!" Tony said as he opened the door for Ziva and then stalked out himself. He made it to the elevator in a few angry strides and held the door open for the rest of his family. As soon as the doors had closed and the elevator had started its ascent, he whacked the stop button. Tony grabbed Kyle and tucked him under his arm. He yanked his pants and his underwear down to his knees and brought his hand down on his bare bottom with a hard whack. Kyle jumped and Michael started crying. Tony spanked hard and fast as he read the riot act to his wayward young son. "You will never ignore Abby's instructions again........smack, smack,smack. You will never touch Aunt Abby's equipment again...........smack, smack, smack. You will never run from us again..........smack smack smack. Am I clear Kyle Dinozzo?.........smack, smack, smack."

Kyle sobbed and wiped his eyes. "Yes...... Dad...... I'm...... sorry." Tony righted Kyle's pants before he pulled him into a big hug and kissed his blonde curls that were now totally out of control. Michael by this time had tears running down his face as he hugged his Mom's waist trying to block out the scene before him and the reality of what he was about to face himself.

"Dad?" Kyle said, as he continued to hitch his breath. "It was........mostly....my.....idea......I....put.......the......................sandwich.......in......Mr.........Mass........Spec" Tony looked at Michael, he was kind of proud of Kyle for trying to protect his brother. He was interested to see what Michael would say.

"Is that true Michael?" he asked, watching his face for the reaction. Michael shook his head slowly.

"I.....wanted to do it.......I thought it would be fun. I didn't want to break Aunt Abby's machine though, neither did Kyle." Tony took his hand and looked into both his son's faces. "I'm proud of you for telling the truth. Kyle it's nice of you to try and save your brother, but he made his own choices and he has to pay his own price. Michael, I'm glad that you told the truth and that you didn't want to break the machine and I believe you, but you're still gonna be punished. Abby told you to stay in the office and you should have done just that." He took his hand and tucked him under his arm and yanked his pants down to his knees. He brought his hand down hard and Michael let out a squeak. The same as he had with Kyle, he lectured while he spanked. "You will never disregard Aunt Abby's instructions again. Smack, smack, smack.............. You will never touch Aunt Abby's equipment again..................smack,smack,smack. You will never run away from us again...............smack,smack,smack. Do you hear me Michael Dinozzo?" ........smack,smack,smack.

Michael sobbed broken heartedly. "Yee....s D....ad. I won't .......do....i.t....again." he said. Tony righted his pants and cuddled him to his chest as the Michael clung to his shirt and sobbed. Kyle clung to his mother in the same way. His own spanking hadn't been near as bad as watching his brother getting his. Tony took a minute to get his own emotions under control before he winked at Ziva who was studying him with worry etched on her face. She leaned over and started the elevator which would take them to the bullpen and whatever fate held for them next.

As the elevator dinged, Gibbs looked up as did Sarah who was doing his filing quietly. Like Dyl, she could sense that it wasn't the right day to make she kept her head down and got stuck into what she was doing, trying to ignore the next show that was about to start.

"Ah boys........come here." Gibbs said. Tony and Ziva gave each of their children a slight push and a nod in his direction. Gibbs dug around in his desk drawer and came out with two pencils. He lifted up some paper and stalked towards an empty desk. He sat each boy down on either side of the desk and passed them some paper and a pencil. "Right. Take dictation." They both looked at him with blank expressions. "Copy down what I tell you." He said more clearly. They both nodded.

"When I am at NCIS, I will do as I am told at all times. I will never touch equipment and I will never disrespect adults by ignoring what they say or running away."

Gibbs checked each boys work and corrected their spelling. "You two will each copy out those sentences one hundred times each. Do not look at each others work or talk. If you do, I will spank you. Are we clear?" Both boys nodded. "Start now." He watched with amusement as each child started scribbling as quickly as they could. "Stop." He said holding up his hand. "Neatly. If it's scrawled, I will make you start over." Kyle sighed deeply and Michael started sniffling again." Do you need a tissue Michael?" Michael shook his head. "Good. Then stop sniffing and get on with it." Kyle sighed again. "And Kyle? Lose the attitude or else." Kyle put his head down and started copying the sentences in his best writing. But under the table he touched his brothers leg gently with his foot as a hidden show of support.

TBC


	75. Chapter 75

Thankyou all for reviews and alerts i really do appreciate all of them. I hope you all enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 75

When she realised that Abby was in a mess with the Mass Spec, Kim suggested that she take the kids back with her to her house. Abby jumped at the chance for Jess, but Dyl opted to stay at NCIS. He really didn't want to get stuck playing tea parties. The girls babbled away as they followed Maddie's Mommy to the car. She really wasn't paying attention to what they were talking about then, or what they were planning when they got home and went straight to Maddie's room. It really wasn't that unusual for for them to do that they usually went up there to play with dolls or something. But today, the conversation was getting a little deeper.

"Kyle is really bad." Maddie said giggling. Jess eyes lit up.

"So is Michael." She said as she joined in the giggling."They have even better ideas than Dyl."

"Have you ever like liked a boy?" Maddie asked seriously. Jess shook her head and stared at Maddie in wonder.

"Have you?" she asked with her eyes like saucers. Maddie shook her head.

"No. Boys are gross." She said. "Cept, Kyle is different. He has the coolest hair. And he's funny."

"Ooh. You wanna have him as a boyfriend." Jess said. Maddie giggled.

"Maybe. I bet you wanna have Michael for a boyfriend." She said. Jess giggled.

"They're too old." She said seriously. Maddie stopped giggling.

"Yeah. They probly like girls that're older like cheerleaders." She said.

"Mmhmm." Jess said sadly. If we were older....." Maddie's face lit up.

" 'Member when we played dress up with your Mommy's stuff? And we tried on the cheerleader dress?" Maddie said excitedly.

Jess nodded. She wasn't sure she liked where this was gonna go. "Uhuh." She said carefully. They'd got in a real lot of trouble over that.

"Well, my Mommy has one now too. I sawed it the other day." She said. Jess smiled.

"Um...........we're not suppose ta touch our Mommy's stuff." She said. She wasn't really sure about this anyway, she didn't think that Dyl would like the dress and he was nearly the same age as the twins. But he was her brother and Michael was cool.

"Come on Jess......please.....they're starting school tomorrow. All ya gotta do is bring your Mommy's cheerleader dress and I'll bring my Mommy's and bring make up. Your Mommy has lots, she won't know."

The next morning found Kyle feeling kind of grumpy and tired. They were gonna start at the new school and they HAD to wear that dumb uniform. After yesterday's effort, he really didn't wanna earn yet another spanking. He'd had enough to tide him over for a while.

Michael was tired but it wasn't really in his nature to be that grumpy. However he was feeling extremely nervous about starting the new school. It helped though to have Kyle. That was the best thing about being a twin. No matter where they went, didn't really matter if no one else liked them, they always had each other. So far that had always been enough. Dyl and Toby were nice though and the good thing was that there were two of them, they weren't likely to come between Michael and his brother.

They both got up in there separate rooms when Ziva called them and got dressed into the uniforms that had been bought yesterday. Before long they were sitting at the kitchen table eating their Mom's pancakes. their Dad was smiling again at a joke he'd been having with Mom, and everything seemed to be back to normal. Ziva gave each boy a hug from behind as they tucked into their breakfast. "You two are looking very handsome in your new uniforms." She said with a smile as she admired her two boys lovingly. Kyle pulled at his tie.

"This thing's gonna choke me." He said. "What's the point of it anyway."

"It's catholic school Kyle. They don't have to have a point. They tell you what to do and you do it. Simple." Tony said. "Dylan and Jess and Maddie like it there. Maybe you just need to give it a chance before you make up your mind." Kyle considered this as he kept eating his breakfast. Michael ate his breakfast quietly. He didn't really have a problem with the tie.

When they arrived at the school grounds the McGee's van was already parked and Tim and Abby were waiting by the car with Dyl and Toby. Jess and Maddie had already gone to play.

"Hi Kyle, Michael." Both boys said.

"Hey boys!" Abby said as she pulled each one into a hug. Both of them were relieved to see that Aunt Abby wasn't still mad at them. Even Uncle Tim seemed not so cranky today as he ruffled both their heads. "All set for your first day?"

"Guess so." Kyle said.

"Yes Aunt Abby." Michael said politely.

"We thought, well Dyl thought, well we all thought really, that you might like it better if they walked you into school. They can show you where to go, help you meet some other kids." Abby said smiling. "But if you want your Mom and Dad to take you, that's fine too. Whatever you want." All the adults looked at Kyle and Michael expectantly. Michael looked at Kyle.

"That'd be good I guess. Thanks." He said. Michael smiled as all four kids took off for the school grounds. Ziva waved good bye sadly while Tony called out "BEHAVE!" He turned around to face Tim. "OH my God! I'm turning into you."

Tim smiled. "Welcome to the club." He said.

Abby looked at Ziva's sad expression and put her arm around her. "They did not even kiss me good bye." She said confused.

"Get used to it Hon. Say goodbye at home. They don't kiss you anywhere near the school........... Someone might see." Abby said grinning. "They'll be fine Ziva. What's the worst that can happen?" Ziva thought back to the McBrat's first days at school, then she thought of the mail box soaring through the sky and finally the sandwich in the Mass Spec.

"I hate to think." She said. Abby giggled.

"But you wanna know something?" she asked her friend.

"What Abby?" Ziva answered.

"Life's never dull." She said grinning as they walked to their cars. Ziva smiled back.

Abby managed to get the repair man to finally to fix the Mass Spec. He was absolutely stunned when he heard what the problem was and how it came about.

"I can honestly say that that is a new one on me. I have never repaired a machine that was broken with peanut butter and jelly. I can't wait to tell the others about this." He said.

Abby chuckled. "Stay tuned.....this is an interesting place." She said.

"Seems so." He said with a big smile. "I bet this place could tell some stories."

"I could fill a book and I wouldn't have to go past the last two weeks." She said smiling.

Upstairs in the bullpen, everyone was nervous. If the phones rang they all jumped. Even Tim was on tenterhooks, wondering if they could get through a school day with out some kind of trouble.

"Will you just relax!" Gibbs barked. "All of you. If it happens it happens. Worry about it then."

"Yes Boss." Tim said.

"Yes Gibbs." Ziva said.

"Boss." Tony said more quietly than usual. Gibbs phone rang.

"Dead marine." He said almost gratefully. The others all jumped up and started grabbing their gear also thankful for the distraction.

While they were out at the scene, a call did come from the school. It didn't however come about the twins. In an effort to impress their two latest heroes, the girls had decided to stage a fashion show of sorts. In the middle of the older children's playground.

Sister Mary Clarence wasn't impressed. By the girls transforming themselves in the little girl's bathroom, by donning what amounted to fetish wear. Or the fact that they'd apparently found them in their parents closets. Thankfully, the outfits were so much too big for them that they weren't revealing at all. Still, Sister Mary Clarence assured Abby, what the outfits lacked in sleeziness, the full face of makeup that they wore crookedly all over their faces, more than took up the slack. Jess and Maddie's explanation of wanting to attract the attention of the school's latest heartthrobs, did nothing to alleviate her aggravation. Abby was told in no uncertain terms that either her or Tim should come and collect Jess as soon as possible and make sure that she was transformed back into a six year old by the start of school tomorrow morning. She also suggested that she and Tim might like to visit Father O'Reilly for confession before they came to Mass on Sunday.

Abby hung up the phone and burst into tears. She really didn't want to ring Tim about this but she had no choice. Abby didn't get embarrassed, usually. But she had never been more embarrassed and stuck for words in her life. Sadly she opened up her phone and prepared herself to hit Tim's speed dial. The phone rang in her hand. Opening it up she had to pull the phone away from her ear to save herself from Kim's crying and ranting. When she finally got a word in she said "I know Kim. I got the same call. Have you rung Gibbs?" she asked............ "You have to tell him..............." Abby blew her hair out of her eyes and tried again to explain. "Kim..........I'm telling Tim.........I promised.............I promised not to keep secrets. Just go and call him now. Get it over with. You wanna pick me up so we can go in together?"

Abby opened her phone again and speed dialled Tim. "Hey, I know you said not to call at a crime scene, but this is important." She said............... "I know your busy and I'm trying to say it................OK!..........He'll be getting the same phone call.................uhuh...........Both of them. They took mine and Kim's cheerleading outfits to school and some makeup and got all dressed up in the girl's bathroom and went to the older kid's playground to try and get Kyle and Michael's attention." Abby held the phone away from her ear when the noise died down she put it back again. "I have to go and get her now and bring her back without makeup tomorrow morning. And Tim? Sister Mary Clarence thinks we should go to confession before we go to Mass on Sunday." Now that she was over the initial shock she was starting to see the funny side and couldn't help the giggle that escaped. Apparently Tim wasn't up to the finding it funny stage yet and he made his displeasure known.......LOUDLY. Abby hung up and went outside to wait for Kim.

As they drove off they looked at each other and started to giggle. Abby laughed until she cried, her mascara running all over her face. She opened her bag to try and repair the damage but found that it was empty of all make up. Jess had cleaned her out. Instead of being angry, it just made her laugh more. As they pulled into the school, Abby was taking enormous breaths to try and calm herself before she had to face Sister Mary Clarence, unfortunately, it wasn't gonna happen. As soon as she almost had herself under control, something would set her off again. The stupid thing was, she really didn't think it was that funny. She just couldn't stop laughing. Then a thought occurred to her. She hadn't asked about Gibbs' reaction.

"Wha....t.....did....Gibbs........say?" she said between happy sobbing.

"He said he knew playing dress ups at our age would lead to trouble." Kim deadpanned. "I told him to speak for himself, I wasn't that old." Abby was once again totally out of control. Unfortunately, Sister Mary Clarence must have watched them arrive from her office window and got sick of waiting for them to come in, because both Abby and Kim were startled by a sudden rap on the window. They looked at each other and tried, they really tried to get themselves under control but the whole thing was just too much. Although they managed to control the actually noise of the laughter, their shoulders shook uncontrollably. But Sister Mary Catherine was nothing if not diligent.

"Ladies? Ladies!" she said in her best headmistress voice as she tapped again loudly on the window. She shook her head at the lack of response from the unconstrained women who were shaking uncontrollably in the front seat of the car. All of a sudden, the car door flew open and Sister Mary Clarence stuck her head in the car. "If you ladies don't get yourselves under control and come and collect your children, I will have no option but to call your husbands and get them to do it for you. I cannot have the girls on the premises dressed like ........THAT!" she said. At the threat of Tim being called, Abby was finally able to get herself under enough control that she was able to jam her lips together in a straight line and nod at the Sister. They both scrambled out of the car and followed the principal into the school administration building. As they walked down the hallway Abby felt like she was about to be suspended herself. So did Kim. They didn't even dare to look at each other in case it set them off again.

Jess and Maddie sat outside the principals office feeling very sad. They were in a heap of trouble. They had taken their Mommy's dress ups again, and Jess's Mommy's make up and they had changed out of their uniforms. They'd done all of that to impress Michael and Kyle and they hadn't even had a chance to see them before they'd been dragged up here to the principal's office. Now there'd never be another chance for the twins to see them looking all grown up.

Tim and Gibbs looked at each other and then at Tony and Ziva who were waiting for the story. The latter two were hoping like hell it had nothing to do with their kids whatever it was.

"It appears that the girls have a crush." Tim said "On your two boys." Tony grinned. Ziva joined him. It was actually good to see the old Dinozzo, they loved their new boys but it came with great responsibility and it was showing on Tony the last couple of days.

"What'd they do?" he said chuckling. Gibbs frowned at Tim and he smirked and put his head down. "Come on! You can't just tell me half of it. There's a story here I can tell and it's a big one."

"BAG AND TAG DINOZZO!" Gibbs said as he turned and stalked over to the van.

"He's gone McGee. Cough up." Ziva said.

"I think you mean spit it out my love." Tony said. Turning to Tim he said "Do what the lady says McMuzzle." Looking around Tim said quietly.

"Abby's cheerleader out fit? Seems that Kim must own one, the girls got changed into them at school, WITH makeup to impress your boys." Tony and Ziva's mouths dropped open.

"Sister Mary Clarence caught them?" Ziva asked. Tim nodded gravely.

Tony clapped Tim on the back. "I'm glad I got boys." He said seriously. Gibbs slapped Tim on the back of the head and he winced.

"Sorry Boss." He said

Then he turned to Tony. "YOU better be able to keep a secret." He said.

TBC


	76. Chapter 76

Thankyou all for your reviews and alerts, as always I appreciate all of them. I love to read what your thnking.I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Thank you again to Maudlin Muse who helped me get my thoughts together.

Chapter 76

AS they reached the outer office. Sister Mary Clarence turned to the two sheepish looking little girls. "Wait here please girls, I want to have a word to your Mommies by themselves. Abby and Kim both gulped. She stood and held the door open for them to pass through. Abby half expected a swat as she walked through the door. Such was the look on the Sister's face.

Rather than offer them a seat straight away, Sister Mary Clarence circled them as she lectured. "This is a very serious matter. A predicament that most people would be horrified at finding themselves in." Abby was jamming her lips together as tightly as she could but she was very quickly losing the battle of self control. She was tempted to shut her eyes. She knew that one look at Kim and she'd be gone.

Kim was having the same battle. And losing. One tiny squeak escaped from her lips and that's all it took, for both of them to end up doubled up in gales of laughter in front of a fuming Sister Mary Clarence. If they hadn't been literally bent over, they would have seen the colour of her face deepening, the only real indication that she was about to blow. As it happened it came as quite a shock as a voice that came from the depths of her very soul boomed around the room stopping them both in their tracks.

"STOP IT RIGHT NOW!" she bellowed. "I HAVE NEVER MET TWO MORE UNRULY MOTHERS IN THE WHOLE OF MY TEACHING CAREER!" Seeing that they had calmed down and were now standing wide eyed like a pair of naughty schoolgirls, she lowered her voice. "As I was trying to explain to you.........those are very young and impressionable girls, they should not think that it is ok or fun to dress like that. It is up to you to grow up and handle the situation like ADULTS. That behaviour will not be tolerated here. Do I make myself clear?" Abby and Kim both nodded. Neither were really sure whether she was talking about the girls or them, but they didn't want to ask. They just wanted to get their kids and get the hell out of there before Sister Mary Clarence produced a paddle.

"I'm sorry Sister." Abby managed to say. "This won't ever happen again." She managed to choke out.

"Me too Sister. I'll make sure Maddie understands." Kim said seriously, once again not game to look at Abby.

"Fine." Sister said grim lipped. "I think under the circumstances, we'll leave it at that. I have already spoken to Jess and Maddie and I don't want to run the risk of you two losing control in front of them. So I think it would be best if you just take them home before any of the other parents see them." Kim and Abby both nodded and headed to the door. "Oh and Ladies? I wasn't joking about confession." Abby hotfooted it out of there before she totally lost it again. Kim was right behind her. They grabbed their little girl's hands and disappeared out the door."

Sister Mary Clarence watched them berating their children as they were getting in the car. They were good parents really. She knew that. She had to have a chuckle though; she could only imagine what the two of THEM would have been like at school. A pair of devils no doubt.

"Are we going home?" Jess asked hopefully.

"Nope." Abby said. "I have to go to work so you're coming with me."

"Um.........am I getting changed?" she asked nervously.  
"Uhuh." Abby said. Jess breathed a sigh of relief. "Right after we show your Daddy what you changed into at school." Jess eyes filled with tears. Her Daddy was NOT gonna like this at all.

Maddie was feeling a little more smug. "Are we just dropping them off and then going home?" she asked.

"No Maddie. We're gonna go and see your Daddy too." Kim said. Maddie scowled and kicked the seat.

"Don't wanna. You're mean!" she said as she kicked the seat again. Abby looked at Kim. Kim rolled her eyes. Abby thumped her leg to urge her to say something.

"Stop that Maddie!" Kim said. Now it was Abby's turn to roll her eyes. She spun around as Maddie continued to kick the seat.

"Do you want your Mommy to pull this car over?" she said. Maddie stuck out her tongue. Jess sat there horrified and tried to take Maddie's hand to calm her down, but Maddie was too far into her tantrum now to notice.

"You're not my Mommy!" she said. "You can't tell me what to do!" Kim's eyes filled with tears. She was embarrassed and worn out and the whole day had taken its toll on her.

Abby was used to Maddie's tantrums, and she understood Kim leaving most of the discipline to Gibbs, hell she let Tim handle things most of the time herself, but she couldn't honestly believe that she would just do nothing while the kid kept kicking at the seat while she was driving. They were going to end up wrapped around a pole at this rate.

"Do you want me to drive?" Abby asked gently. Kim shook her head and kept trying to ignore Maddie who was still trying to kick holes through her mother's seat. "Kim, this is dangerous." She tried again as a car horn blared. It was clear that Kim was having trouble concentrating. Kim pulled the car to the side of the road and burst into to tears. This didn't deter Maddie at all, if anything she screamed even louder. Abby put her arm around her friend to comfort her. She would have loved to have dragged Maddie out of the car and warmed her backside for her herself, but she knew that wouldn't solve the problem. It might make her mind for now, but if things were going to get any better, it had to come from Kim.

Kim stopped crying and took a big breath and looked at Abby with sad eyes. She felt totally deflated and inadequate. Abby patted her on the leg and smiled. "You have to." Is all she said, but Kim already knew what she had to do. Jethro had said she would know when the time was right and as usual he had been spot on. Undoing her belt she opened the door and climbed out. Maddie was so busy with her tantrum she didn't even see it coming. Jess did. Like her Mommy, she had her face covered with her hands when Kim opened up the car door and hauled Maddie out. Maddie was so shocked that she didn't even fight as her Mommy lifted up the cheerleader dress and landed six solid spanks to her bottom. As the shock wore off with the last smack she opened her mouth and wailed. Very loudly. Her Mommy had never done that before.

"Quiet Maddie." Her Mommy said crossly. "Not another word, or I'll spank you again." Maddie closed her mouth and sniffled. She climbed back in her seat and let her Mommy buckle her in before kissing the top of her head. Maddie's eyes were filled with tears as she allowed Jess to take her hand finally. Kim pulled the car back onto the road with a bit more confidence this time, and Abby breathed a sigh of relief. They just might make it through the day in one piece after all.

As the team arrived back at NCIS, all Gibbs hopes for keeping the incident under wraps were dashed as he saw the two women and the six year old cheerleaders heading into the NCIS building. As if his team didn't have a enough of a reputation for being unusual, now two of their kids looked like they just stepped off a Mardi gras float. Nice way to dress to visit Daddy at work. Tony chuckled at the sight. After his kids had the place in an uproar yesterday, it was nice to have the spotlight on someone else. Even if one of them was the boss's kid.

"Nice outfit Probie." Tony said to Tim nodding in the direction of where the girls had just gone. Gibbs slapped the back of Tony's head.

"Got something to say Dinozzo?" Gibbs said.

"Only that your girls are looking particularly fine today Boss." He said. Tim smirked and poked Tony in the back as they walked towards the entrance. He poked him back which earned him a whack from Ziva.

"Are you children finished?" Gibbs asked, or do I have to give all of you a slap.

"Yes Boss." They all chorused as they all tried to get through the door at once.

When they arrived in the bullpen Abby pushed Jess in front of her so that Tim could have a good look at what she was wearing. "Leave her with me Abs, there's evidence." He said giving her a kiss and a brief hug. Ziva went with Abby to the elevator to help her carry the evidence to the lab.

Jess looked down at her feet she really didn't wanna look at her Daddy's face. He was gonna be mad. Suddenly there were another pair of shoes in front of her own and her Daddy was attached to them. He grasped her chin between his thumb and forefinger and tilted her head up. "What did you do?" he said quietly. Jess didn't like that quiet voice. She started to cry. Tim collected her back pack and slung it over his shoulder and picked Jess up with the other arm and walked towards one of the conference rooms.

Tony watched Tim go off with Jess and for once he didn't really feel like joking about it. He'd seen what it was like from the other side and it wasn't that funny. He sighed as he sat at his desk and started on some leads.

Maddie hid behind her Mommy. Kim tried to pull her out but she was holding tight. "Come on out from behind there Miss Maddie." Gibbs said sternly. Maddie didn't move but she did feel brave hidden behind her Mommy.

"No!" she said. "Don't wanna. Your gonna spank me."

"That's a chance you're gonna have to take, now come on out!" he said a little louder. She didn't move. Kim turned around with Maddie still attached which gave Gibbs the opportunity to snatch her from where she was hanging on for grim death. He tried to pick her up but she was still firmly attached. He had to put her down and undo her fingers before he could pick her up and carry her. She pulled and wiggled and threw herself backwards, anything to try and get out of his arms. When he finally thought that he had a firm grip she pulled her hand back and slapped him across the face. The whole room went silent. All eyes swung from Maddie to Gibbs , to Kim and back to Gibbs again. Kim did something that no one expected. She leapt forward and landed a hard smack to Maddie bottom.

"Don't you EVER slap your Daddy again." She said before promptly bursting into tears. Maddie opened her mouth and wailed, but she did stop flailing around. Gibbs stopped to touch Kim's cheek gently and mouth "thankyou" before carrying a distraught Maddie away to another room. It hadn't escaped his notice what a big step that was for her.

Abby and Ziva were down in the lab and Ziva was doing her best to help Abby with the evidence. Really she was just there for moral support. "Are you OK?" she asked Abby.

"Yeah. I feel bad for Jess. She's in big trouble but she has it coming. Sometimes it feels like no matter what you say and what they promise they just do the same things over again." She said sadly.

"It is not easy." Ziva said and she meant it. She was just starting to realise how truly complex parenthood is.

Tim carried Jess into the conference room and sat on the table with Jess in his lap.

"So after all the trouble you've been in and the talks we've had about you not touching things that don't belong to you, you took your Mommy's things. Again." Jess's lip wobbled and big fat tears sat balancing on the edge of her lashes.

"Yes." She said in a tiny voice.

"Why?" Tim asked. Jess didn't say anything, she just sniffled. "I want you to answer me Jess."

"I........I don't wanna say.....it" she said. "You're gonna be mad."

"You don't have a choice." He said. The tears started to spill over an course down Jess pink cheeks.

"We.......Maddie...........we..........we didn't think the twins.......would ...like ....us. We........wan.....ted.....to..look.....older. We thought...that ....ol...der.....boys....like....cheerleaders." she sobbed.

"Did you take your Mommy's things without asking?" he asked.

"Yes....I'm........sorry." she said.

"Too late this time Jess. We have had this same talk over and over. Borrowing other people's things without asking is stealing. YOU stole. Not to mention that you took those things to school, which was sneaky and you changed out of your uniform which is against the rules. You have to do as your told. ALL the time. Now you were already in trouble for the mail box incident. You won't be getting your dolls back on Sunday, we'll try another week." Jess nodded, this mightn't be so bad after all. "And I'm gonna give you a spanking. I don't EVER want to have to talk to you about stealing again." He said sternly. Jess was now howling and he hadn't even started yet. He tipped her over his knee and flipped up the dress. Then he took a breath before he pulled her panties down to her knees. Jess tried to put her hand back to protect herself but Tim caught it and held it still behind her back. He brought his hand down on her bare bottom with a loud smack. She squealed. "OW....Daddy stop......Smack......no OW........smack....smack,smack,smack" and he stopped. He pulled up her underwear and straightened the dress and then pulled her up into his lap for a cuddle.

"Shhh. Shhh." He said. "It's all over."

"I'm sor..ry Daddy." She said.

"I'm glad. But it's not me you took the things from. You owe your Mommy an apology. Don't you?" Jess nodded as she buried her head into her Daddy's shirt and cried. "Ok, let's get you out of that outfit and into your school uniform."

Gibbs took Jess into another conference room and sat on a chair and stood her in front of him. "You have been a very naughty girl. You have stolen something that belongs to your Mommy and you did the wrong thing at school and you were very naughty to slap Daddy. We have told you over and over about taking other peoples things and you're still doing it."he siad.

"I'm sorry Daddy." Maddie said.

"MMm. Sorry that you did it or sorry that you got caught." He said. Maddie lowered her head. "That's what I thought. Well I want you to remember this time. I'm going to spank you and I'm taking your dolls for two weeks." He said. Maddie stomped her foot.

"That's not fair!" she said in temper. "They're mine! You can't take them."

"Yes I can." Gibbs said. "And I am." Not willing to wait until she got herself into even more of a state, he picked her up and laid her over his knee. He lifted the dress and lowered her panties and smacked her bottom hard. She started yelling blue murder. "Stop.....it smack, smack,smack, it hurts, Daddy stop it, it hurts,smack smack." And he stopped. He straightened Maddies panties and her dress and then pulled her into a hug. Or tried, as she jumped up and down and rubbed her bottom. He picked her up and sat her on his knee and she clung to his neck and sobbed.

"It's okay now Maddie you're forgiven." He said."But I don't want to have to talk to you about this again." There was a knock on the door and Kim entered with Maddie's back pack.

"How about we put you back into your uniform and wash your face." Kim said. Maddie nodded as she ran over and clung to her Mommy. Gibbs kissed his wife and daughter and went back to work.

Down in the lab as Ziva saw Tim getting out of the elevator, she rushed and got in, leaving the family to be by themselves for a bit. It was a much neater looking Jess, with a freshly scrubbed face that ran through the lab and launched herself at her Mommy.

"I'm sorry Mommy." She said. "I won't do it again I promise."

"I hope not Jess." Abby said as she wrapped her little girl in an enormous hug.

"I pinky promise." Jess said holding out her little finger. Abby hooked her own pinky through it and smiled. Tim kissed both of them before he got back into the elevator and went back to work.

That night as Abby lay in her husband's arms, she started to giggle again when she thought of the meeting with Sister Mary Clarence.

"What's so funny?" Tim asked.

"Oh I was just thinking about today and our meeting with the Sister." Abby said.

"Bad?" Tim asked.

"Um.....sort of......."she said starting to giggle again.

"Oh Abs what did you do?" he asked.

"Nothing....intentionally." she answered with another giggle.

"Then what did you do unintentionally?" he asked pulling her on top of him where he could see her face.

"Nothing that I'm not doing right now." She said cryptically.

"Well I'm guessiing you weren't naked or laying on top of her sooo.... that just leaves giggling." He said as she tried to stop laughing. "Abs....you giggled during one of Sister Mary Clarence's lectures?"

"Weeeellll. It took a while to actually get to that. We kind of started the giggling in the car....and then....well she sort of banged on the window and then threatened to call you and Gibbs.........she said between bouts of laughing."  
"Then you stopped right?" he asked.

"For a while, but Timmy she marched us down the hallway and into her office and then she started lecturing us Timmy, and I was really trying.....but then...Kim kind of did this little spluttering sound and well I couldn't help it just happened. We burst out laughing and we couldn't help it...but then ......she yelled REALLY loudly at us. Then we stopped. She sort of told us to get our kids and go home before anyone else saw us..." That was it Abby had totally lost it again, she was positively shaking. Tim opened his mouth to tell her it wasn't funny when a thought occurred to him. It was funny. It was freaking hilarious. Before long he had lost total control himself and they rolled around the bed in absolute hysterics.

When they'd finally calmed down, Abby said.

"Timmy?"

"Yeah Abs?"

"I love you."

"I love you too Abs."

"Oh and Timmy?"

"Yeah Abs?"

"She wasn't joking about going to confession." Tim groaned.

TBC


	77. Chapter 77

Thankyou all for your reviews and alerts. I read everyone and I love to know what your thinking. I hope you all enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 77

About six weeks had gone over since Tony and Ziva's boys had arrived and everything had settled down well. They were in some trouble from time to time but nothing too terrible. Tony and Ziva had taken to parenthood like a duck to water. The McGee's and the Gibbs and everyone else were also doing fine. Amber was now nearly five months along and starting to show.

There was about to be a big event. Jess and Maddie were about to turn seven, within a couple of weeks of each other, so with their husbands ok (so long as they kept it within reason) Abby and Kim had decided that the girls were going to have a combined birthday party. Tim had thought that maybe if they asked about six kids each, that would be a nice round number to deal with. After all they had their own family kids too, by the time they added Dyl and Toby and Kyle and Michael that would bring it to to have a nice celebration.

Kim came to Abby's lab for lunch so that they could make plans. "Right. Within reason, they said." Abby said. "Well I don't know about you but I don't think that it's reasonable to hand out invitations at school unless you're going to give one to every child in the class. Kim nodded.

"Yep. Couldn't agree more. And there's the dance class too. Although some of them are also in their class at school so that'll help with the numbers. Do you think Tim's gonna be ok with this many kids?" Kim asked.

"We..ll, it was only a suggestion. Anyway, it's alright for them, they don't have to look at all the little faces waiting for their invitation. I can't do it. I can't just leave kids standing there disappointed. I don't care how much it costs. Or how loud it gets. Nothing will get wrecked. We just have to hire plenty of entertainment so they don't get bored." Abby said enthusiastically.

"Ok. Let's talk about that. Entertainment. What do you have in mind?" Kim said.

"Karaoke is a must. And someone to blow up balloon animals." Abby said.

"Bounce house a definite. A clown and pony rides." Kim said.

"Oh,oh,oh and a petting zoo." Abby said. "And then we could do some stuff ourselves. Icecream eating contest. Limbo. Pass the parcel. Statues. That should cover it for a while." Abby said.

"Party bags. Good ones." Kim said.

"Ok. What about food?" Abby said. "I'm thinking hot dogs and hamburgers. Gibbs can cook then on the barbecue."

"Good idea. Cans of soda and cup cakes and icecream." Kim said

"And potato chips. Lots of them and candy. Big bowls of candy." Abby said clapping her hands. This would be just like the party she would have loved to have as a kid. "Oh, I know! A candy floss machine!"

"Oh my God! Perfect!" Kim said.

"What are we planning now ladies?" Ziva asked as she came into the lab. "Do not worry, I am alone." She said as she noticed them looking around her, probably for their husbands.

"A combined birthday party for the girls. Wanna help?" Abby said.

Ziva smirked. "Will it get me into trouble?" she asked.

"Don't think so. It's just a kids party." Abby said innocently, she really didn't see that there'd be a problem.

"How many children are you inviting?" Ziva asked. Kim and Abby did a quick tally.

"There are about eighteen kids in their class, but that includes them. So that's sixteen. Then eighteen kids in the other first grade class so that's thirty four from school. Then there's twenty two from their dance class, so that's fifty six and then the four boys. So about sixty." At Ziva's horrified look she added seriously. "But they won't all come." Ziva covered her face with her hands.

"Abby you know this is gonna be trouble Abby. How many kids did Tim say you could invite?" she asked.

"He SUGGESTED six kids each. But that's IMPOSSIBLE Ziva. It can't be done. Not without destroying the self esteem of innocent little children." She said dramatically. Ziva rolled her eyes.

"Abby, it would not destroy them. It is part of life. This is too many children to manage. Tim will not agree to this." Abby huffed and stomped her foot, they had made such lovely plans and now Ziva was just being all negative.

"Timmy is not the boss of me. I can have a little party if I want." She said childishly. Kim was looking worried. She didn't want to cause trouble here between Tim and Abby or Ziva and Abby.

"Maybe we could tone it down just a little." Kim suggested.

"NO!" Abby whined. "I like it this way." Ziva picked up the paper they had been writing their notes down on and raised her eyebrows.

Ziva tried to think of a way to get Abby to see sense without hurting her feelings. "Abby, I know that you want to give Jess and Maddie a lovely party, but this is sooo many children and sooo much excitement and then sooo much sugar. Won't all these children get........crazy?"

"It's a prty Zi. Didn't you ever have a party when you were a kid?" Abby asked.

Ziva shook her head. "I have NEVER seen anything like this Abby."

"Well you will now!" Abby said giving her a hug. Ziva wondered how she managed again to get wound up in one of Abby's schemes.

"Well I think you have left off one thing that I can do." She said.

"Oh Great Zi!" Abby said "What?"

"I can tell fortunes....... We are all going to end up in big trouble." She said. Abby shrugged. "Oh well. It'll be worth it." Kim grinned. Sometimes it was.

The big day was fast approaching and Abby was very careful not to tell any direct lies. Gibbs hadn't asked many questions so Kim didn't have any trouble. Still, they had made sure the invitations were given out at school when neither Gibbs nor Tim was there. The contact numbers for the rsvp were either Kim's or Abby's cell. They both kept a secret list of those kids that had accepted. So far all of them. Kim started on the party bags which was not easy. Sixty party bags meant for each one; decent party favour, not some plastic rubbish. Lots of good candy and a few of the plastic things too. A balloon, a clicker, a whistle. Really Kim should have probably thought about the noise that sixty whistles could make but, she was getting a little carried away and didn't think.

One night after dinner Abby and Tim were cleaning up. "Ivitations been given out?" He asked.

"Uhhuh." Abby said.

"Everyone coming?" Tim asked.

"Yep. Seems like it." She said.

"Anything I can do?" he asked.

"I'm sure we'll think of something. On the day. I think us girls pretty well have everything covered." She said. That wasn't a lie. Ziva had booked the clown who could also blow up balloon animals and the bouncy house and the petting zoo. Abby had booked the Karaoke, the ponies, the candy floss machine and a big surprise that she hadn't even told the others about. She was bouncing up and down at the thought of how excited all the kids were gonna be.

A couple of days before the party Kim made sure all the food was ordered and then finished off the party bags with Amber's help. They stashed them in the guest room in a box.

The morning of the party, Jimmy and amber went to pick up the birthday cake. It was huge. It looked kind of like a tiered wedding cake with tiny ballerinas dancing all around all three layers. Jimmy's eyes bugged at the sight of it. "How many kids is this gonna feed?" he asked.

"Not a hundred percent sure about that. Must be a few." She said cryptically.

Zac and Sarah were on balloon blowing up. They had the helium machine in the living room and they were busy blowing up all the colourful and sparkly balloons that the girls had picked up. Well Zac was blowing up balloons and making Jess and Dyl laugh by sucking in the helium, Sarah was tying long ribbons to them before letting them float to the ceiling.

Kim and Maddie arrived, Gibbs Tim and Tony were all at work finishing off some paper work before the party. Abby was so relieved when Tim said he had to go to work. It meant she would have the party well under way before he got back. She was sure that once he saw how well organised they were, and how smoothly it was all going, he wouldn't even mind how many kids were there.

When all the balloons were fixed, Sarah and Amber went upstairs to get the girls ready and do their hair, while Kim and Abby and Ziva prepared the last of the food, the plates and cups, put drinks on ice and prepared the hotdogs and hamburgers for the barbecue.

Jimmy was outside coordinating. He was getting more nervous by the minute, the more he realised that there was to actually coordinate. He had found a spot up in the corner of the yard for the bouncy house. He had found yet another spot for the ponies. The clown was on the patio setting up between the Karaoke machine and the candy floss machine and now another man had arrived. Jimmy looked around the backyard in despair. How the hell was he supposed to find room for the petting zoo? In the end, he got the pony ride guy to agree to going right around the edge of the property, which would leave a space in the middle for the petting zoo. Rex and Lulu stood over near the garage and whined in disgust at the circus that had once been their safe haven. Rex turned away sadly and headed for his trampoline bed in the garage. Lulu stuck her nose haughtily in the air and followed him.

At work, Tim and Gibbs and Tony were winding things up so that they wouldn't miss any of the party. Tony had also bought the twins to work with him. He didn't think it was worth leaving them incase they got up to some kind of mischief and ruined the party. Tony made sure they had changed their clothes and that their faces were clean before they left the building.

Kids were arriving left and right at the McGee house hold. It was only five minutes after the designated time for the party and the head count was already up to thirty eight. They all just seemed to arrive all at once. Toby had arrived and he and Dyl were outside on the bouncy house with some other little boys and girls. Jimmy was doing his best to keep everyone safe but there were already like twenty kids inside there. He was panicking. Someone was gonna get hurt. He blew the whistle that Kim had saved for him out of the party bag left kids all looked at him.

"Boys out." He said. "I'm gonna time the girls and then I'll time you boys."

"No fair!" Dyl yelled. He had an audience now and was determined to flex his muscles a little. He underestimated his opponent though, who was now sporting a massive headache. Jimmy grabbed his arm and hauled him off whacking his backside once on the way out.

"No talking back or you can sit on the mat for ten minutes." Jimmy said. Dyl opened his mouth but closed it again as Jimmy raised his eyebrows. The rest of the boys who had been watching this exchange, especially since they were younger, hopped out immediately and sat on the mat next to Dyl. They didn't have to do that but hey, they were quiet. Jimmy wasn't going to argue.

While all this was going on even ore kids arrived and Jimmy was starting to wish he had some help. He was only one person with over forty kids to watch at once while refereeing the bouncy house. He got out his cell and called Amber. He didn't dare turn his back on this little crowd to go in and ask for help.

"Honey, send out reinforcements." He said as he yanked yet another cue jumper out of the bouncy house. He shook his head at the ponies that were wandering past with kids on their backs, they were pooping all over Tim's lawn as they went. More kids were inside the temporary petting zoo fence. God he hoped that none of those animals bit. The clown was busy juggling and now a group of little girls were gathering around the Karaoke. He cringed as the music started blaring with little girls all singing 'Total Eclipse of the Heart'. ' Glee' had a lot to answer for. He thought. Abby and Kim came out beaming with pride at the total chaos that was all around them. It was everything they could have possibly imagined. Then Abby felt hot breath on the back of her neck.

"I can explain Timmy." She said.

TBC


	78. Chapter 78

Thanks to all of you who reviewed and alerted. I appreciate you taking the time. I'm sorry if this is not a very long chapter, but on weekends are hard to fit a lot of writing time in. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 78

"Abby what IS all this?" Tim said incredulously as he moved to the side to dodge two little girls with big sticks of candy floss in their hands. Unfortunately, that moved him directly into the path of a pony who was doing a circuit with Jess on it's back. As he stepped out of the way of that obstacle he stepped right into a pile of horse manure.

"Hey Daddy!" Jess yelled excitedly form her perch. Isn't she beautiful? Can keep her ?" Tim looked at Abby sternly who answered immediately.

"No Honey, it's just here for the party." She said grinning sheepishly. "You might wanna do something about that shoe." Abby said with her nose all Karaoke fired up again at that point with the same song as before. For the third time. What are you gonna do? Kids like what they like. Tim fixed Abby with a stony glare as he removed the offending shoe.

"I'm gonna go and change out of these clothes AND SHOES into something more suited to.....CHAOS....but this discussion Abs is far from over." Abby poked her tongue out at his retreating form. "I saw that!" he called back. "REALLY not helping yourself Abby." Abby winced. She had a sinking feeling that when Tim found out about the BIG surprise, he was going to be even LESS impressed. Oh well. Too late now, she thought.

Gibbs had hauled Kim over to a quiet corner for a similar discussion. "Wanna tell me how this got so out of hand? I thought this was just gonna be a few little girls for a birthday party. You know a few games, a some hamburgers, a cake. What the hell is this? You couldn't even call it a circus. There's more crap here than at the State Fair!" he said.

"This isn't out of hand Jethro. We planned it exactly this way. Look how much fun the kids all having. Look at your daughter. She's happy!"

"MMmm......And it took all this to make her happy?" he asked. That makes her a tough crowd then doesn't it.

"Well no.....but she IS happy. Doesn't that make it ok?" she said guiltily.

"Na. It doesn't..... Right now? We're gonna help Tim and Abby to keep their house in one piece. But Kim later? It's time you and I talked. About a lot of things. This is such a waste of money, and don't tell me you didn't have a lot, if not most to do with it, a lot of this stuff has you written all over it." Kim opened her mouth to speak but Gibbs placed a finger on her lips to stop her. "Later." he said as he smacked her none too gently on her bottom. Kim puffed out a frustrated breath before stomping off to check that no one was feeding the animals candyfloss in the petting zoo.

The four older boys had now taken up residence by a very large bowl of M&M's. None of them were usually allowed much in the way of coloured candy, so they were taking the opportunity to inhale as many as possible while the adults were all busy with the throng of kids that seemed to be taking up every nook and cranny of the backyard.

Tim had changed out of his work clothes and fixed up Rex and Lulu with some doggy treats in the hope of stopping the constant whining that was coming from the garage. The poor things just couldn't understand why they had been invaded by such mayhem. Now he was busy lifting small children on and off ponies, making sure to tell each one to hang on tightly. As he watched Jimmy and Zac still struggling to keep some kind of order on the bouncy house, it occurred to him that this could be an insurance nightmare if someone got hurt.

Gibbs was glaring at the whole ridiculous setup from his position at the barbecue. Never in his life had he ever seen a birthday party that looked like this. He shook his head and hissed out an irritable breath as he tried to find a way to fit a few more hamburgers on the grill. It was gonna take forever to feed this many children.

"Can I be of any help here Jethro?" Ducky asked.

"Not unless you can breath fire onto some of these damn burgers Duck." Gibbs said grumpily.

"Oh well, would you like me to watch them while you go and have some fun?" he asked.

"I'm good thanks duck.I tell you what though, I could really use a beer." Ducky chuckled as he went to get him a cold one.

Tony and Amber were trying to run a pass the parcel game, but it was difficult with all the noise of the animals from the petting zoo and the Karaoke and the dogs whining,not to mention all the excited squeals coming from every which kids couldn't hear when the music stopped. This eventually ended in an argument over who should take the layers of paper off as it wasn't clear who was actually holding the parcel when the music stopped. Tony and Amber weren't even sure the music had stopped. When two little girls started crying, Tony gave up and gave everyone a prize that was playing the game. Thoughts of the icecream eating contest were abandoned, in an executive decision, Tony and Amber decided it would be better to just offer it with cake later. There was no way in hell you could organise this amount of kids into any kind of a competition or game. They were better to just run free. And run free they did.

The four boys had moved on from the M&M's and were now over by the candy floss machine. The poor clown was working overtime trying to keep everyone happy with their chosen balloon animal under very difficult circumstances. Being right next to the Karaoke was giving him a massive headache, not to mention making it nearly impossible for him to think straight. Abby and Kim and Ziva were now placing big bowls of potato chips on the table for the kids to nibble on while they waited for the burgers. Thankfully the first batch was finally ready. Of course Kyle, Michael, Toby and Dyl were the first to reach that table as well although they were starting to slow down a little. Most of them were on their fourth can of soda and were starting to feel the effects. Sarah took pity on the poor clown and told the kids it was a food break and to give him a rest for now.

Abby was busy singing and dancing with some of the kids when Timmy and Zac started putting up a portable table on the patio.

"Um....Tim you can't put that there." She said.

"Why Abby!" Tim whined. "There's not enough room for all the kids to sit down."

"Um well that space is kind of reserved." She said. Tim narrowed his eyes at her.

"RESERVED FOR WHAT EXACTLY?" he asked menacingly.

"We....ll....... Your gonna love it!" she said deciding to try and jostle her way out of this. "What's the thing that every child wants at their party?"

"No more games Abby. Tell me what the hell is gonna happen next or I swear I will take you upstairs and..........."

"Alright, alright. No need to get all huffy about it. Lord, talk about over reacting." She said. Tim grabbed hold of her arm about to make good on her threat when the surprise in question arrived.

"Um.....Abs? There's some people here for you." Sarah said in a sympathetic voice. Tim was already pissed that fact was plain. This latest stunt was NOT going to bode well for Abby. AT ALL. Uh oh! Abby thought. It was lucky for Abby that the entire house was full of witnesses because Tim was ropeable.

"You have GOT to be kidding me! Of all the........"

Kim and Ziva's mouths dropped open in shock. "She is trying to get us killed." Ziva said in a low irate tone.

"Hell they're cute though. You've gotta admit." Kim said as she ducked away from Gibbs glare. She didn't really know why. She had nothing to do with this.

Before anyone could process their thoughts however, fifty six screaming kids came running towards the patio. Gibbs jumped out from behind the barbecue and let fly with the loudest whistle any of the unruly kids had ever heard. They all stopped dead in their tracks. Except Dyl, who picked that moment to throw up on his fathers shoe. Tony saw his boys about to go out in sympathy and rushed them up the backyard away from the crowd. Toby looked a bit green but didn't have to be sick. He hadn't eaten nearly as much as the other three.

"Everybody sit down NOW!" he bellowed. Everyone sat. Except for the adults who didn't really know what to do.

"Can we pet them?" A little girl called out.

"No Sweetie." Abby said finally finding her voice again. "But they are going to dance for you. Aren't you, you gorgeous girls." Abby said to the three cute little monkeys in tutus. The kids all cheered and the two handlers started the music and placed the monkeys on the ground. They all started their clumsy but very cute little dance together. It was the cutest thing that any of them had ever seen. Even the little boys were impressed. The show went on for a half an hour with the dear little things consistantly amusing the crowd with their entertaining antics. Jess and Maddie had never been more proud. Nobody had ever had monkeys at their party before. And DANCING monkeys at that.

Abby decided to do some damage control before the end of the day. She sidled up to Tim and put her head on his shoulder. He put his arm around her and pulled her close. "They are cute Timmy aren't they?" she said.

"Yep."

"And it's been a great party hasn't it?" she asked.

"From a kids point of view." He said.

"I'm still in a lot of trouble aren't I Timmy." She said.

"Yep." He said as he kissed the top of her head.

The show had been over for about fifteen minutes and the kids were all lined up to talk to the monkeys, when one of the handlers beckoned Abby over. "If we could just fix up the account now Mrs McGee." she said. Abby smiled.

"Of course. Thanks sooo much. The kids absolutely loved them. I'm so glad we had all three. They're so cute, and clever." Abby passed over what she thought was the right amount of money.

"I'm sorry Mrs McGee but there's been some kind of a mistake. This is the amount for one monkey. You have to pay for all three." Abby went white, well whiter than usual, but pride helped her to keep it from showing how disturbed she was.

"Oh of course!" she said. "I've given you the wrong envelope. I'll just go and fix that right up." Abby's goose was really cooked this time and it wasn't gonna be a game. She still didn't have very much of a limit on her cedit card after the New York incident and she didn't have anymore cash in her personal account. She would need two signatures to get the kind of money that she needed. Although she could have asked Kim, she really didn't want to. She had been more than generous already and it wasn't that she and Tim couldn't afford it. It was just that she was gonna have to tell him how much the monkeys had cost. Still, the woman was waiting, she didn't have a choice she was gonna have to get Timmy to put his signature with hers on a cheque. Abby sighed dismally. She was never going to sit again.

Tim made his way over to Abby as soon as she appeared again on the patio. He could tell that something was wrong by the look on her face.

"What's happened?" he asked.

"Um.....Timmy .....I........your gonna be really mad." She said as her eyes filled with tears.

Tim chuckled. "I already am remember. Can't make it much worse." He said.

"You might want to reserve your judgement on that one Timmy." She said quietly.

"Just spit it out Abs. I don't think I can take anymore surprises today." He said.

"It's.......it's kind of about the bill for the monkeys." She said at last. Tim sucked in a deep breath.

"Yes." He said.

"Well, I thought it was gonna be one price and Timmy I was so excited about being able to get three of them AND in dancing tutus AND able to dance, that I guess I didn't listen properly to what the woman told me about the price because well the price that I thought it was, is actually only for one. We have to pay that for each of the monkeys and I don't have enough." She said, finally stopping to breath.

"And how much was it for one monkey?" he asked carefully.

"Um.......well.......what you have to understand is Timmy that dancing monkeys are very rare. You have to pay alot sometimes for things that are rare, like gemstones and.........and ........other rare stuff." She was starting to panic a little and it it made Tim more nervous by the second.

"HOW MUCH?" he said in a tone that required an answer. Now.

Abby unconsciously took a step back. "A thousand dollars." She said quietly.

"EACH?" he said. Abby's eyes filled with tears and she nodded.

"I'm so sorry Tim." She said. He hated to see her so upset but he wasn't happy.

"Let's go pay for this and will talk about it later........Don't worry Abs. It'll be ok."

"I'm in even more trouble now aren't I?" she asked. He looked at her in disbelief.

"Hell yeah Abs." he said. "Did you really think you wouldn't be?"

Abby sighed. "A girl can only dream. I don't like those kinds of spankings."

"You sure Abs?" Tim said. "Cos you certainly seem to go out of your way to get them."

"It's not my fault Tim! Stuff always just goes wrong." She said. Tim rolled his eyes.

"Abby I won't accept that. Things go wrong because you're doing the wrong thing in the first place." Tim realised they were standing in front of the woman who was waiting patiently to be paid. He went and got the cheque book out of the desk and passed over the payment with a glare to Abby. Three thousand dollars was a hell of a lot of money for a half an hours entertainment for kids party. God only knows how much the rest of it cost.

"Look Abs. Now's not the time. Let's get the cake and the party bags over with and then we can figure out what to do about this." He said as he led her into the kitchen. They found that Kim and Amber and Ziva were already putting candles on the cake and getting out plates and bowls and spoons etc. Tim wasn't even shocked when he saw the massive birthday cake. Who could be shocked after $3000.00 worth of dancing monkeys. They helped cart the rest of the stuff outside and set it up on the little table that the girls had set up for that purpose. Surprisingly, all the boys seemed to recover from their bout of sickness and were waiting for the cake and ice cream. That was boys.

They all sang happy birthday and the girls held hands while they blew out the candles. Both Gibbs and Tim had to admit to themselves how lovely this friendship between Maddie and Jess was. Probably one of those that would last a lifetime. As the party finally crawled towards the finish, Tim looked up in the sky expectantly.

"What's wrong?" Abby asked.

"Nothing. Just looking for the fire works." He said smugly.

"Don't be silly." Abby said. "I thought about that but it's still only five o'clock. Too light outside." Tim shook his head in amazement. She would've too, he thought.

TBC


	79. Chapter 79

I am really really sorry that it took me so long to get this chapter up. It's a bit longer though to make up for it if that helps. Thank you all to those who reviewed and alerted. I'm up to over 1000 reviews and i really appreciate all of you who helped do that for me.I hope you all enjoy this chapter. :)

I would like to thank Maudlin Muse yet again for helping me to straighten my thoughts and for helping me find Gibbs song. :)

Chapter 79

When the last of the kids had left staggering under the weight of one of Kim's party bags, the bouncy house was deflated and the petting zoo and ponies had been given a reprieve, all that was left was the family. And the Karaoke machine. The men were outside helping Tim clean up after the animals, while Rex and Lulu looked on with disdain.

"We really should make Abby and Kim do this." Tim said. Gibbs smiled. They both knew, that as unimpressed as they both were by this over the top shindig, neither of them were gonna make the girls shovel up animal droppings. Hell neither of them were even that mad had been over the top but it had also been great.

Inside, Abby and Kim and Ziva were settling the kids all down in the living room with a movie. It was no mean feat to find a movie that they all liked, so in the end, they moved the girls upstairs to Jess room to watch a movie there. The boys were all settled with sleeping bags watching 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians'. They had done and eaten so much that there wasn't a murmur out of any of them. They were exhausted.

All the women were now in the kitchen clearing the last of the mess. "Do you think you are in trouble Abby?" Ziva said. Abby shrugged and grinned.

"I guess. But that's not exactly anything new." She said matter of factly. Ziva smiled.

"It was a wonderful party." She said. "It will be interesting to see how you match it, for Dylan's birthday." Abby's eyes widened, she hadn't thought of that. How was she gonna do the same for Dyl? They could have a pirate party or ........She was broken out of her thoughts by Kim.

"Abs? You really need to deal with the aftermath of this one before you start planning the next party." She said, recognising the look that signalled Abby's mind going into overdrive again.

"Mmmmm. You know. We really didn't do any thing wrong except maybe leaving out a few details. The money for the Monkeys? That was a genuine mistake." She said. "It was important to me that THIS party Jess felt special, well both of them of course." She said hugging Kim. "But..........I just wanted Jess to know how special she is. That she'll always be special. No matter what."

"Well I think you made your point." Amber said. "It was a great party ladies. I've never seen anything like it."

Abby and Kim both beamed. Ziva looked at Abby and looked away again. Not giving away any of her thoughts, she smiled.

"Are we game to go outside yet or will we be recruited to clean up after the animals?" she asked.

Outside the boys were in fact nearly finished. There were a few of them so it hadn't taken that long. Abby stuck her head slightly out of the back door.

"You're safe to come out now Abs." Tim said flashing her a smile that told her he knew she was dodging the work but didn't care.. Abby smiled back as the rest all filed out the door behind her.

"Kids are nearly asleep. They're worn out." Abby said with a yawn.

"Good." Tim said. It'll give us a chance to talk later, he said looking at Abby more closely.

"Tim.....I......" Tim interrupted her.

"Shh Abs. We'll talk later. I'll listen then. I promise, but seeing as how we still have the Karaoke here." He said wiggling his eyebrows. "We may as well have some fun first." Abby giggled and jumped up and down excitedly. "I'll get some beers." Tim said. "You want one?"

"Na.... it's been a long day.I think I might have something lighter." She said. "I'll get it in a little while."

The others were already gathered around the Karaoke machine making their choices but Abby interrupted. "Let's make it a game. The song you pick has to reflect what you're thinking about this day or each other or I guess it doesn't matter but it has to MEAN something." After deciding that that wasn't a bad idea, they all revised their choices and keyed in what they had chosen to sing.

Tony's choice was 'I've Got You Under My Skin.' By Frank Sinatra. It was a duet that he wanted Ziva to sing with him. Ducky surprised everyone by jumping in with his own choice, 'Sugar Sugar' by the Archies. Jimmy picked, 'Having My Baby" by Paul Anka. Abby aptly chose 'Whoops I Did it Again' by Brittany Spears. Amber chose the song 'Greatest Love of All' by Whitney Houston'. Tim's choice was Billy Joel's 'Just the Way You Are' he thought the lyrics fitted how he felt about Abs perfectly. After going over and over the list, Kim picked 'My Guy" by Diana Ross. Zac and Sarah chose 'I Got You Babe', by Sonny and Cher. Now all eyes were on Gibbs. At first he wasn't going to pick anything. But after much cajoling, mostly from the girls, he went to pick his song. He keyed it in without letting anyone see what he chose.

The music started and Tony and Ziva started singing. Everyone was really quite impressed by Tony and Ziva's singing, of course Tony's antics that went with it were hilarious. He actually did a pretty good impersonation of Frank Sinatra.

Ducky's song was next. With his golden oldie from the fifties, Ducky brought the house down. The girls were so excited that they all got up to sing backups for him.

Abby was cute with her version of 'Whoops I Did It Again.' Although the lyrics didn't fit perfectly, they were close enough for Tim to get the pun. He had to smile. There really wasn't much about Abby that didn't make him smile. Most of the time. Which was why he made his choice. When he started singing it brought tears to Abby's eyes, and everyone else's did love her just the way she was, quirks and mischief included.

When Kim started singing her more up beat song 'My Guy', once again the backing singers got up and sang along in the chorus. Gibbs came the closest to blushing that any of them had ever seen as he chuckled away at her comical rendition. It was funny but clear that she really did worship her Jethro. Tony had to really force himself to not blurt out a smart ass remark. He got a head slap anyway. Proving once again that Gibbs really was psychic.

Next were a very nervous Zac and Sarah. They were very sweet as they sang their duet of 'I Got You Babe'. Although they were very young, there wasn't a person present that couldn't see that they believed every word they sang. Abby again had tears in her eyes. She could feel in her heart that they were going to make it. It would be a long road and there was still so much of life that they had yet to experience, but Abby didn't doubt for a minute that they truly loved each were lucky really lucky to have found that special person so early in there lives.

Next, all eyes were on Gibbs as he winced and closed his eyes, hoping that he would wake up from this dream. Unfortunately when he opened them, the same expectant faces were still trained on him. Waiting. He got up and took the microphone from a positively joyful Abby.

As Gibbs music started up they all cheered. Especially Kim. It was her turn now to get teary eyed as Gibbs started singing 'Cleaning This Gun' by Rodney Atkins.

The declaration of independence  
Think I can tell you that first sentence  
But then I'm lost  
I can't begin to count the theories  
I had pounded in my head that I forgot  
I don't remember all that spanish  
Or the gettysburg address  
But there is one speech from high school  
I'll never forgot

Chorus:

Come on in boy, sit on down  
And tell me 'bout yourself  
So you like my daughter, do you now  
Yeah we think she's something else  
She's her daddy's girl and her mama's world  
She deserves respect, that's what she'll get, ain't it son  
Now y'all run along and have some fun  
I'll see you when you get back  
Bet I'll be up all night  
Still cleaning this gun

Well now that I'm a father  
I'm scared to death one day my daughter's gonna find  
That teenage boy I used to be  
Who seems to have just one thing on his mind  
She's growing up so fast it won't be long  
'fore I'll have to put the fear of god  
Into some kid at the door

(repeat chorus)

It's all for show, ain't nobody gonna get hurt  
It's just a daddy thing, hey believe me man, it works

The others all clapped loudly in time to the music while Abby and Sarah took video footage on their phones. Abby already had visions of showing it one day at Maddie's wedding and he hadn't even finished the song yet.

After everyone had had their turn, they all picked what ever they wanted and it was quite late by the time they were finished. Somewhere through the evening they had called for pizza and had eaten birthday cake and ice cream for dessert. But eventually the evening had drawn to a close. Tim and Abby had said that the kids could all stay the night as it was Sunday tomorrow and everyone would be back there for lunch. Saved them all being woken up.

When the last of their guests had left, Tim took Abby's hand and walked towards the stairs. "Ready to talk now?" he said.

"Yeah. What do you wanna talk about exactly?" she asked.

"Well to be honest Abs I'm not really even mad any more. Nothing really went wrong, luckily for you, except for the fiasco with the money for the monkeys. What were you thinking? I get that you made a mistake. But even so a thousand dollars for three monkeys is too much." He said sternly.

"I don't know really..........It seemed like a good idea at the time." She said sheepishly.

"What I really want to know is why? Why such an enormous party?"

Abby shrugged but had a cheeky grin on her face. "It's hard to explain. I had a niggling feeling about something." Tim looked at her curiously.

"What kind of a feeling. Judging by the smile on your face I take it was a good one?" he said. Abby nodded.

When they were going home in the car Kim kept sneaking glances at Jethro out of the corner of her eye. "It's alright Kim." he said with a smirk. "You're not getting a spanking. I want to talk, that's all." Kim breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't really mind about the spanking, but they'd had a great time today and she didn't want to finish it with Jethro being upset with her.

"That song you sang about Maddie was really sweet." She said as she took his hand.

"Been called a lot of things in my life, don't recall sweet being one of them." He said smiling.

"Then maybe you should let people see the real Jethro more often." She said as she leaned against his shoulder.

"Na." he said. Kim smile and hugged his arm. She didn't care what part of himself he showed everyone else, just as long as he saved the best for her and Maddie.

Tony and Ziva were barely through the front door when they were wrapped in each others arms and on their way to their bedroom shedding clothes all the way up the stairs as they went. While they loved their boys and the new life that came with them, they hadn't had the luxury of this much privacy in weeks, and they weren't gonna waste a moment of it. As they got to the top of the stairs, Tony flipped Ziva over his shoulder and slapped her bottom lightly as he headed towards his designated target. Ziva chuckled and pummelled at his back in mock outrage as she found herself being carted through her now upside down bedroom doorway.

"Tony!" she squealed. "Put me down! I want to ask you something first." He did. He dumped her unceremoniously onto the bed and then climbed next to her.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Did you notice that Abby was not herself tonight?" she asked. "She was acting a little........strange."

"Abby's always strange." Tony said as he started working on getting his wife's bra off.

"Mmmm. Something is up. You will see." Tony shrugged and went back to finish his task. At this moment, Abby was the last thing on his mind.

Abby was finding it hard to concentrate as she drove through the quiet street. There was hardly any cars on the road. She was extremely tired but she just had to get was no way that she could wait until tomorrow. She hadn't had any beers or wine or any alcohol when the others had. All she could think about was the one thing she was out to get now. She would have sent Tim but he had been drinking so he couldn't drive. Finally reaching her destination, she pulled the car into park and grabbed her wallet before going inside.

Gibbs and Kim were sitting on the edge of the bed. "I want to talk about money." Gibbs said. Now this conversation isn't gonna involve a spanking this time because we haven't discussed it, but be warned. Next time I see you splashing money around like that for the sake of it. I will spank you. Are we clear?"

"But...........it's my........"

"I know it's your money Kim. But you're my wife now. I can support you. I don't want you to waste money like that. And I don't want to be eating food that your first husband paid for. You have Maddie's college to think of and I want you to be secure if something happens to me. I want you to put that money in trust, unless there's really something important that you want to spend it on. Or there's something that Maddie really needs. Needs Kim not wants, then I don't want you to touch it. We're gonna live off my money."

"But....." she started.

"No buts." He said. "Please, let me look after you." Kim smiled.

"Fine." She said with a small smile. Truth was she would do anything that Jethro asked her, but she was worried about having to curb her spending. She hadn't had to do that in a long while. She made a mental note before she did anything with that money to put some aside in cash so that she wouldn't be short if she needed something. She loved Jethro but he was a man and a man could not understand that her needs might seem like his wants but they weren't, they WERE needs. She doubted that he would notice her supplementing a few dollars here or there.

After Abby left, Tim went around doing a stocktake of the kids. The boys were all accounted for. Kyle and Michael were sleeping close together, their sleeping bags touching. Funny how two kids could grow inside the same body for nine months, share the same food and blood supply, be born within minutes of each other and still be so different. Toby had grown so much since they had first met him, as had Dyl. Their first child. Apart from Sarah that was like one if there's as well but she was almost grown, even he had to admit that. Not fully and he wasn't prepared to give her up totally just yet but she was well on the way.

His eyes drifted back to Dyl and the day they had brought him home to stay, one of the happiest days of their lives. Even if Sarah had stirred things up a bit, it was one of the best memories that he had. Dyl, like Toby had grown so much, in size as well as in the boy he had become. When they brought him home he'd been timid and quiet and frightened to say or do the wrong thing in case they changed their mind and took him back. He was so different now, mischievous and friendly, funny to the point of being a smart ass, but the biggest change was that he was happy and comfortable and safe. He could risk being really naughty now, because he knew his place in this family was cemented forever. Tim brushed a tear from his eye. It was all worth it.

He walked up the stairs towards the girls rooms. Jess and Maddie were sleeping peacefully in Jess's big bed. They both looked like little angels. Funny how naughty they had both been and now although they had their moments, they were quite good little girls. After all, nobody expected kids to be perfect. As he had with Dyl, Tim turned his mind back to the day they had collected Jess and how she had clung to him like he was her only lifeline in this strange new life. He half chuckled and half cried when he remembered her biting Tony on that first day because Tony had laughed at him. Her Daddy. He had been her Daddy from that first day and they still shared a close bond. She loved her Mommy as much now too, although it had taken Abby a little longer to win her over but now, like Dyl, Jess felt safe and loved.

Tim opened Sarah's door and he squeezed his eyes shut, listening intently for her quiet breathing. He had never known what he was going to find when he opened that door, nothing really out of the ordinary now but it wasn't that long ago that he never knew if there'd be an empty bed and a night of searching for her ahead of him. That wasn't really a problem anymore. Now his biggest worry was that not only would she be in her bed but that she wouldn't be alone. They hadn't gone against his wishes since he'd found out about their changed relationship, but he still worried that one day he'd find himself facing an uncomfortable situation. No matter how much his head tried to tell him that his sister was no longer a baby, his heart told him the exact opposite. He couldn't help that. But for tonight at least, all was peaceful.

He went down stairs and outside to check on the dogs before he locked up for the night. There was Rex sprawled out on his trampoline bed exhausted from the terrible injustice that had been done to him that day. Lulu was curled peacefully by his side as she had been from her very first day. She was happy. If Rex was happy then that's all she ever wanted out of life. To be with her soul mate. Tim had another laugh to himself. They were an odd pair that was for sure. Well, they say opposites attract. He checked their water and walked back inside and locked the back door. As he walked towards the front of the house he heard Abby's key in the front door. She was all smiles at the sight of him and she wrapped her arms around her neck. "I'm really tired." She said. Tim took her hand and they walked up the stairs together and headed to their bedroom.

"Are you ready?" Abby said happily as she drew the packet from her bag. Tim picked her up and swung her around.

"I've never been more ready in my life." He said. They went into the bathroom together and Tim read the instructions while Abby rolled her eyes at his perfection.

"Tim, I've done this before, it's not brain surgery." She said.

"You have? When?" he said.

"Does it really matter Tim?" she asked. "This is a special moment, do you really want to have this conversation now?" she asked in amazement. Tim chuckled.

"Guess not. Sorry, I'm nervous." He said.

"About?" she asked. "That I am or that I'm not?"

"Um........I......I think I want you to be." He said searching her face for the answer he hoped he'd recieve.

"You?" he asked.

"Oh Timmy I really hope I am." She said with tears in her eyes.

"Then why are you crying?" he aske d as he pulled her into a hug. Abby started to giggle.

"I love you Timmy but I'm kind of busy here." She said.

"Oh shit! Oh sorry.........I shouldn't have said that.... I..... I'm just REALLY nervous." He said.

"Yeah I gathered that Timmy, you don't have to worry about the swearing just yet the baby can't hear you. If it's there, it's about the size of the head of a it doesn't have ears."

"I know I just...... oh hell Abs I don't know what. How many minutes do we have to wait now your finished?"

"Three minutes." She said nervously staring at the stick.

"Right. How about we do something that takes three minutes to fill in time?" Tim said.

"Like what McGee? Cook an egg?" She softened her tone a little as she buried her face in his shoulder. "Let's just wait ok?"

"Whatever you want Abs." he said as he clung to her. He needed the comfort as much as she did. Now that they had made up their mind that they wanted this, it was gonna be a big disappointment if they weren't.

"So Abs this is why? With the party and everything?" he asked.

"Yeah, I thought this might be Jess's last birthday that she was the baby. Maybe the last chance that she would be the youngest girl. I wanted it to be special."

"It was that Abs. I doubt she'll ever forget it." He said looking at his watch. "It's time."

They gave each other one last big hug and turned to the stick that was on the counter.

"Yes,yes, yes, yes!" Abby squealed as she jumped into Tim's arms. Tim buried his face in her shoulder as he the tears ran down his face.

"Oh I love you so much Abs." he said into her shoulder.

"I love you too Timmy." She said.

"You are happy aren't you?" she said.

"As happy as when we brought the other kids home." He said. "Always room for one more Abs." As Abby brushed the tears from her face, she wasn't even sure whether they were hers or Tim's, but she was sure of one thing. They were happy tears.

TBC


	80. Chapter 80

Thankyou all for your reviews and alerts, I really appreciate all of them. I'm glad that everyone was happy with Abby being pregnant. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 80

When Tim and Abby woke up the next morning, they were still entwined in each others arms, the excitement from last nights news had settled into a happy contentment with thoughts of how lucky they truly were. "Morning." Tim said sleepily. "You ok?"

"Fine. I think." ..........Abby sat up slowly to see if she was in fact ok. "Yep, no morning sickness. Yet anyway." She said happily. Tim trailed his fingers down the cross on her bare back.

"What are we gonna do about telling everyone?" she asked. Tim placed his lips gently on her shoulder while he answered.

"Mmmm. Not sure. I would love to shout it from the roof tops, but Abs we have to tell the kids first, and carefully. That's gonna be a bit hard while we have all the other kids here." He said.

"Yeah, you're right. How and when we tell the kids could impact on how well they take it. I don't wanna make them feel like they found the news out second hand. Best we don't say anything today then." She agreed. "Timmy, you do think that the kids are gonna be happy don't you?"

"I hope so Abs. I guess that's up to us, isn't it. To make sure that there's no difference between this baby and our other kids. They should know how important their role in this baby's life is going to be. Jess as the big sister and Dyl as the big brother. And of course Sarah as the doting Aunt." Abby nodded.

"I guess it's normal for some sibling rivalry." She said.

"Of course it is. Babies need a lot of attention. We'll just have to make sure that we reassure them. Often." Tim said. "We'll tell them tomorrow then yeah?"

"Yep. Tomorrow. I can't wait." Abby said, slightly disappointed that she couldn't tell everyone today. She shuffled herself backwards until she was even more buried in Tim's embraced and closed her eyes, may as well get a little more sleep, she thought.

Too late. There was a loud crash from downstairs and some raised voices followed by loud barking. Two kinds. Deep rhythmic barking and high pitched yapping. Tim groaned and threw back the covers and climbed out of bed, making sure to re-cover Abby and tuck her in to protect her from the early morning crisp air. "Go back to sleep for a little while Abs. I've got this."Tim said as he kissed her gently. He pulled on some sweats and a T shirt and headed for the stairs.

His gentle mood ended however, as soon as his slipper clad feet hit the bottom stair. The twins were wrestling on the top of all the sleeping bags, a vase had been knocked over presumably by the Rex who was leaping from one piece of furniture to another, barking excitedly at the noisy kids. Poor Lulu was yapping away and trying to bite off a pink T shirt that either Jess or Maddie had dressed her in. Chances are it was Maddie because she still had a doll's tutu in her hands and she was trying to get hold of the irritated little dog.

He stomped into the living room and hauled the twins to their feet at the same time yelling to Maddie over the top of the din to leave Lulu alone.

"Honey dogs don't like clothes." He said loudly.

"But the monkeys had tutu's." she said convincingly.

"Yes, well Lulu is a DOG, a very cranky little dog at the moment and she doesn't like clothes of any kind." He said as he smacked both Kyle and Michael's bottoms and told them to knock off fighting.

"Daddy, I'm hungry." Jess said. "Can we have some pancakes?"

"Um.......you know what Jess? We're gonna clean up this mess and then I'll make you some pancakes and then we'll go to church." He said.

"Where's Mommy?" Jess asked.

"Mommy's gonna stay in bed a little while longer. She's tired." He answered gently. Jess looked at her Daddy with a confused frown. Her Mommy was never tired.

"I don't got no church clothes." Maddie said.

"Ok.....well you know what, while I clean up this mess, you two go and pick out some clothes out of Jess's closet to wear to Mass. OK?" The girls squealed and ran excitedly up the stairs. "NO DISNEY CLOTHES!" Tim yelled up the stairs after them.

"Right boys. Who let the dogs in?" he asked.

Kyle and Michael pointed to each other. "He did." They both said at once.

"Fine. You can both clean up the living room. Actually you all can. You all slept in here. Then same thing as the girls. Go up and all of you find something to wear to church in Dyl's closet. Good things not play clothes. And nothing dirty Dyl." Hey, where were Dyl and Toby anyway? He thought.

Dyl and Toby were in the kitchen, Toby was watching on while Dyl was standing on the counter getting potato chips out of a cupboard that he wasn't supposed to be in. Tim scratched his head. Yep, always room for one more. He went out to the kitchen and picked Dyl up off the counter before slapping his pyjama clad bottom. Wait for breakfast.......... and get something on your feet. There's glass everywhere out there. And Dyl? If something's put in a place that you can't reach, that's a pretty good indication that you're not supposed to have it. Go and help the twins clean up the living room you two, but don't go near the glass on the floor. I'm coming to clean that up." Tim said firmly.

Tim put the dogs outside and swept up the worst of the glass before vacuuming just to make sure that he didn't miss any. He opened the pantry and got out some pancake mix. Next a skillet and they'd be in business. The hair on the back of his neck stood up warning him of someone's presence. He scrubbed his face with the hand that wasn't shaking the pancake mix. As he turned around he had to chuckle. Ok. First rule of seven year old girls, be very specific.

"Ok girls. You're gonna need to change out of those clothes. I know I said no Disney, and I didn't say no dance outfits, but you can't wear tutus to church." He said smiling.

"Girls are such dumb asses." Kyle said as he wandered into the kitchen. Tim turned around slowly and glared. Kyle rephrased his statement. "You should have known you'd have to wear church clothes."

"Better. Although still none of your business. Go up to Dyl's room and choose something to wear before I come and pick it for you." Tim said. Kyle saluted with a cheeky grin, and ducked just out of Tim's reach as he ran past him and up the stairs, his golden curls bobbing and bouncing with the motion.

Tim turned off the heat from under the skillet and walked with the girls up stairs to Jess's room where he helped them choose something to wear.

By the time Abby came down with Sarah behind her, Tim had pancakes on the table with syrup and juice and disposable plates, cups and silverware. Thank God for left overs from the party, he thought. He was standing next to the table with a bag waiting for everyone to finish so that he could throw away the remains.

"Pancakes Timmy. Yay. I see you got out the good china." Sarah said with a grin. At Tim's unimpressed look at her sarcasm she grinned wider. "These are the best pancakes I think I've ever eaten Tim. I think you missed your calling." Abby kissed Tim and hugged him from behind as she nibbled the edge of a pancake.

"You really should eat something you know." He said.

"I am see?" she said holding up the remains of her pancake. "Doesn't make it any healthier to put it on a paper plate." She said smiling. Tim patted the hands that were around his middle.

"Have some juice." He said. "Or a piece of fruit." Abby rolled her eyes. She had a feeling this was gonna be a long pregnancy.

"I'm good Tim." She said with a smile. "Honest."

After breakfast had been devoured and the remains disposed of, they crammed everyone into the van to go to church. Sarah got Zac to pick her up so that Toby could go with the others. They were killing themselves laughing at the comical sight of Tim and Abby with all the kids. Considering the mix up of a morning he'd had, Tim was in a surprisingly good mood, Sarah thought.

After church, Tim and Abby and the kids, stopped at the supermarket to get some stuff for lunch. They made an eclectic looking group as they trouped up and down the supermarket aisles. Tim pushed the cart with the girls riding on either side while the boys all trooped behind looking bored. Abby made an excuse to look at something on the other side of the store, which made Tim smile. He knew she'd gone to the baby aisle, just to make it all seem a bit more real.

The boys were all starting to push and shove again. They were only playing, but the supermarket was not really the place, so Tim decided to give them all something to do. As they approached the fruit and vegetables, he ripped off a bag and passed it to Dyl. "Can you choose two lettuces please Dy." He said.

"Sure Dad." He said as he took the bag. Tim tore off another bag and gave it to Michael.

"Michael. Could you please get some carrots?" he asked.

"Yes Uncle Tim." He said as he took the bag and went in search of his vegetable.

"Toby. You think you can handle some cucumbers?" he asked. Toby smiled.

"Yes Mr McGee." He said as he took the bag from Tim, grateful to be included.

Tim looked at Kyle with his eyes narrowed, although he was smiling. "Can I trust you to get a bag of tomatoes?" he asked. Kyle grinned.

"Sure you can Uncle Tim." he said. He knew that Tim had meant pre packaged ones but hey, it was always more fun to pick them yourself right? He waited until Tim's back was turned and tore a bag off the reel and headed over to the mountain of tomatoes that were on display. He sniggered. That was some pile of tomatoes. It must have taken someone an age to do that. How funny would it be if they all fell down, he thought. Better not, he thought as he started picking tomatoes.................... and then he didn't know why he even did it, he just couldn't stop himself, after a quick look at Tim to check that he still had his back to him, he yanked a tomato from deep in the middle of the pile. Even though he didn't know why he did it? It had been a conscious decision. But nothing could have prepared him for the avalanche of red shiny fruit that cascaded after him like a rock slide. He jumped out of the way, as did several innocent bystanders, but he wasn't quick enough and it was obvious who had made the mess by the fact that he was now completely surrounded by and knee deep in the evidence.

Tim looked up in shock at Abby who had just come to find them. They both then looked down at the chaos that Kyle had created and then finally to Kyle himself, who was doing his best to look innocent. Not an easy thing to do under the circumstances.

"What?" he said with his hands outstretched. "I was only trying to help?" Abby covered her mouth to hide her smile as the in store PA system cracked on.

"BIG cleanup in the fruit and vegetable aisle." It said in a humorous voice. "Need to dig a child out of the tomatoes."

After they'd managed to get Kyle out of the middle of the tomato pile, they grabbed whatever else they needed and got the hell out of there before anything else could go wrong.

Thankfully, by the time they got home Tony and Ziva were already there. Sarah had let them in when she got there.

"Hey boys!" Tony said. "Were you good?"

"They were fine." Abby said smiling. Tony looked at Tim who gave him a look to say I'll tell you later as he glanced at Kyle. Ziva didn't miss the sly look and she narrowed her eyes at the more devilish of her two sons. He just gave her a big cheesy grin and through his arms around her waist. She patted his bottom none too gently and told him to go and play. Michael then came and hugged her more gently and she kissed his head affectionately. "Have you been good?" she asked.

"Yes Mom." He answered with a smile.

"Good boy. Go and play." She said.

Ziva then turned her attentions to Abby. "You are alright Abby?" she asked, watching her face closely as she answered.

"I'm fine." Abby said with a grin. "I'm always fine."

"Good." She said although her instincts told her that something was up. Still, she would have to wait. If there was something to be told, Abby would tell her eventually.

It wasn't long before all the others arrived and they all piled out into the backyard. The little girls today, now that they weren't distracted by the party, were fascinated with Amber's small baby bump. Amber produced a book out of her bag and showed them how big the baby was now. Their eyes were like saucers as they looked at the picture of this tiny but perfect baby.

"Is the baby gonna be a boy or a girl?" Jess asked.

"I don't know sweetheart. We'll have to wait and see." Amber said. "It'll be exciting, like unwrapping your presents on Christmas morning."

"I hope it's a girl." Maddie said. "Cos then we can show her how to dance."

"Well I'm sure that'll be very helpful." Amber said. "But you know, boys can dance too you know."

Kyle rolled his eyes. "If they're a sissy." He said. He didn't notice Tony coming up behind him. But he did notice that sharp pain he felt on his rear end.

"Apologise, right now Kyle." He said. Tim had told him about his antics this morning and again in the supermarket. It was time he kept a closer watch on his attitude again.

"Sorry Amber." Kyle said.

"That's ok." Amber said patting his arm. "There are all kinds of dancing you know." He just gave her small condescending smile and ran off.

Jimmy was talking to Tim who was in the kitchen getting salad stuff out of the fridge. "Great party yesterday Tim. Have to say every other party from now on is gonna pale in comparison." He said.

"Mmmm. I hope so Jimmy. But you know Abs, she won't be able to leave it that. Every child will have to have the same chance." He said with a proud smile. "Stay tuned for Dyl's birthday. No doubt she'll have some mega ideas."

Jimmy laughed. "I bet she does too. Probably have a pirate jump out of a cake."

"How's Amber going?" Tim asked while he looked in the fridge, determined to not give anything away.

"She's great. All the hormone moods seem to be behind us. Thank God." Jimmy said. "She's back to her old self. Even more serene if that's possible." Tim grinned. He would have loved to ask more questions but he didn't want to risk giving a way their secret.

Gibbs and Ducky were outside cooking the barbecue. They were having hamburgers again cos there was a ton left over from yesterday. The girls were preparing the bun's on the table outside. Abby was completely lost in thought. She really didn't think she was gonna be able to not say anything. It was absolutely killing her. Then she looked at her kids laughing and playing and thought of the consequences of not handling this the right way. She took a breath to give herself some strength to keep her mouth shut.

"You ok Abs?" Kim asked.

"Yeah fine." She said with a smile. The girls all gave each other a knowing look. None of them had ever seen Abby this quiet. Either something was really wrong. Or something was really right. They were going with something being really right. Amber patted her belly. Unless she was really off the mark, her little baby was gonna have a playmate.

TBC


	81. Chapter 81

Thankyou all for your reviews and alerts. I love to read them all. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 81

They got through lunch and the afternoon without letting the cat out of the bag. But Abby knew she wasn't going to make it through to the next day and Tim was just as excited. As they sometimes did on a Sunday, they didn't ask anyone to stay for dinner on Sunday night, opting instead for a quiet night. It was good that they were able to use the party the day before as a reason for everyone being tired. It wasn't even a lie. Everyone WAS tired. Especially Abby, who was having trouble staying awake even just through the afternoon. This created even more suspicion, but they were lucky that their friends had enough sense to leave it alone, knowing that they must have had their reasons.

So even Zac went home by six o'clock, leaving the family a chance to talk. Abby and Tim rustled together a quick dinner and called the kids to the table. It seemed fitting that they should have this major discussion around the kitchen table, it seemed to be the place that most of their BIG family discussions had taken place.

The kids were poking at their food a little and getting ready for their usual night time bickering session when Abby intervened. "Not tonight kids please, we need to talk to you about something." She said.

"That's right." Tim said. "We need to talk to you about something important. Something that's gonna effect all of us." Tim said. The kids watched with wide eyes wondering what was about to happen. They could all feel that it was gonna be big. But their Mom and Dad were smiling, so that meant good news right? Dyl thought. Jess watched her Mommy and Daddy's faces. She couldn't imagine what they were about to say. Sarah looked from Tim to Abby and back to Tim again. Like Jess she was at a loss as to what this discussion could be about.

"Are we gonna go to Disneyland?" Dyl asked. Tim smiled. Just like a kid.

"No Dyl. We're not going to Disneyland." Tim said. Abby grinned and looked at each of them lovingly.

"The thing is, that .......well, were gonna have a baby." She managed to get out at last. She searched there faces for some kind of reaction. Dyl was first.

"Is that all." He said. "I thought it was gonna be something really special." Sarah thumped him in the arm at the slight look of disappointment that crossed Abby's face. Dyl yelped and thumped her back. "What did I do?" he asked.  
"You could try being a bit more sensitive Dylan." Sarah said. "This was obviously news your Mom was excited to share with us and now you've spoiled it for her."

"Why would we be excited about that? A dumb old baby who's gonna cry and poop every where. What's so exciting about that?" Dyl said. Jess looked at Abby and then Tim.

"Is it in your tummy like Amber's baby?" Jess asked happily.

Tim and Abby both smiled. "Yeah honey it is." Tim said. "Your little sister or brother is growing inside Mommy's tummy right now. But very slowly. It'll be another seven months or so before it's ready to be born." Sarah jumped up and threw her arms around Abby and then Tim.

"I think it's great news." She said. "Congratulations."

"Thanks Sarah. Thanks Honey." Tim and Abby said together. Dyl's face was a puzzle as he was obviously trying to work things out.

"So if the baby's in Mom's tummy, how'd it get in there?" he asked seriously. Abby smiled but looked nervously at Jess, who she wasn't sure was ready for this conversation. Tim went as white as a sheet. He hadn't even thought about this from this angle otherwise he would have done some spat her juice all over the table which distracted them all for a moment.

"WOW! Sarah. That came out of your nose." Dyl said, more impressed with that than the idea of a new baby brother or sister. Sara was too busy laughing and choking at the same time to even contemplate commenting on that statement.

"Tell you what." Abby said. "Why don't we finish dinner and then you can get ready for bed and Dad and I will come up to your rooms and answer any questions you have. Ok?" Abby said. A bit of colour came seeping back into Tim's face but as he thought about the after dinner talk, and what it could possibly entail, the colour went haywire rushing to his face and ears, leaving him blushing furiously.

They tried to keep some semblance of normalcy throughout the rest of the meal but it was obvious that they all had things on their minds. Dyl was formulating the questions he wanted to ask in his head. There were a lot of things that didn't make sense to him. Sarah wasn't thinking about what she would ask but she was wondering what the hell the kids were gonna ask. She wished she could be a fly on the wall. Abby was trying to pre-empt what the kids were gonna ask so that she could plan the answers in her head. Tim was wondering if the under the cabbage scenario would still maybe the stork. Buying it from the hospital, now that one had to be feasable. Jess was imagining her and Maddie taking care of the baby while her Mommy and Daddy were out. The fact that no one was going to leave two seven year old girls in charge of a baby didn't even cross Jess's mind.

After dinner had been eaten and while Tim and Abby were cleaning up and stacking the dishwasher, Dyl raced up to his room to shower. He was eager to get some answers to his questions. Jess was in her room playing with her dolls. She hadn't really thought about any questions yet.

After the kids had all been gone upstairs for a few minutes, Tim turned to Abby.

"What are we gonna tell them Abs ?" he asked.

"The truth Timmy. A softened version for Jess but basically the truth." Tim looked serious.

"Are you sure Abs?" he asked.

"Yeah Tim. I am." She said. "Kids are smart Tim. They know if your lying to them."

"How do we start?" he asked.

"Well, I don't think we do start. We wait for them to ask questions and then we answer them, as honestly as we can." She said. Tim looked sceptical.

"Okay then. I guess." He said as he kissed her gently. "Let's get it over with."

They went up to Jess room first as she was the youngest and to be honest they thought she'd be the easiest one to practice on. "Hey Honey." Abby said as they went into her room. Jess looked at Abby's tummy through her long lashes.

"Hey." She said. "It doesn't look like there's a baby in there."

"No, it doesn't yet." Abby said. "Because the baby is very small. When it gets bigger you'll be able to see a bump like Amber's." Jess looked from one to the other. She'd been thinking about what Dyl said and she was curious now too.

"Where did it come from? The baby." She said. Tim looked at Abby, hoping like hell she had some idea what to say because he was coming up blank.

"It came from God." Abby said gently. Jess looked at Abby seriously.

"I don't get it. How did he get it in there?" Tim's breathing quickened and he started to sweat profusely. Abby gave him a reassuring smile.

"Well, God gave Mommy a special teeny, tiny egg and he gave Daddy a special seed........" Tim was starting to feel like he may just pass out. Not even pass out. Maybe have a heart attack. Is this was a heart attack felt like. No. He didn't have any pain. You'd have to actually have pain to be having a heart attack wouldn't you? Abby's hand on his knee brought him back to the present. He forced himself to calm down. Their daughter needed answers and he had to get it together. Abby continued.

"God gave Daddy a special seed and Daddy gave the special seed to Mommy. When the special seed mixed with Mommy's special egg a baby started to grow. So that makes the baby a gift from God." Abby said piously. Tim held his breath as Jess looked from one to the other and eventually settled on him. Shit! He thought.

"How'd you get the seed in Mommy's tummy Daddy?" she asked innocently. Tim looked desperately at Abby who gave him a sympathetic smile and hugged him.

Tim cleared his throat. Twice. He closed his eyes for a minute to try and think. Nothing. When he opened them the same big blue eyes were looking to him for an answer.

"Well..........when...........Mommy and I.........see........Mommy and I got married because we loved each other." He started. He took a deep breath to calm himself, he sort of knew where he was going with this now. "When married people love each other, they like to kiss and cuddle." Abby frowned. Right a little too vague, he thought. "The cuddle that you have when you're married is a little trickier than a normal cuddle so that Daddy can give the seed to Mommy." Flushed with success, hopefully, or embarrassment, the two were so intertwined now that even Tim couldn't tell the difference. All he knew was that his face, neck and ears were totally on fire. Once again he held his breath.

"Ok. Can I have a glass of milk and a cookie?" Jess said happily. Tim chuckled with relief.

"Jess you can have two." He said. Abby smiled at the obvious relief that was written all over Tim's face.

Tim went and got Jess her milk and cookies and then met Abby in the hallway outside Dyl's room. "You're gonna have to calm down Tim." She said. "You know that Dyl's not gonna be that easy don't you?" Tim pinched the top of his nose between two fingers. He could feel a massive headache coming on.

"I know Abs, I'm trying. I just don't know how specific we're gonna be." he said.

"I guess we'll have to be as specific as we have to be to help him understand." Abby said. Tim nodded. He could do this.

They opened the door and Dyl was sitting on the bed with a remote control from a game in his hand. "Hey Dyl." Tim said pausing his game and turning off the TV.

Abby put her arms round Dyl's shoulders. "So Dyl. You have questions that you want to ask us?" Abby said.

"The one that I asked downstairs." He said. "How did the baby get inside your tummy?" Dyl searched his Mom and Dad's faces for the thing he'd grown to rely on. Honesty.

"Well Dyl, God gave Mom a very special teeny tiny egg and he gave Dad a special seed.........." Abby started. "Dad gave the seed to Mom and when they mixed together, they made a baby and that was a gift from God." Abby said again piously.

Dyl looked directly at Tim. "How'd you give her the seed?" he asked.

"Well Dyl, when a Mom and Dad love each other they kiss and cuddle and then Dad passes the seed to Mom and it's like Mom just explained. The seed mixed with the egg and then the baby started to grow." Dyl thought about it and wasn't satisfied with that answer. How could you pass a seed from one person to another by cuddling. It didn't make any sense, and yet his Mom and Dad wouldn't lie.

"That doesn't make sense." He said. Tim wracked his brain for a way to explain this without getting graphic. His gut told him though that he was gonna have to do just that. Get graphic. Shit! He thought. Maybe he would try a more cryptic approach first. "When God made a man's body and a woman's body, he made them very special, just for this purpose. Sort of like pieces of a special puzzle. You know how pieces of a jigsaw puzzle fit together exactly." He said, searching his son's face for some kind of understanding. Nothing. Abby was holding her breath trying not to laugh. Not that she was laughing at Tim. Far from it. It was kind of like that nervous laugh you get when you don't know what to do or say. Like when she and Kim were in Sister Mary Clarence's office. Ok. That was an image she could have done without when she was trying not to laugh. Tim felt her going and squeezed her knee to try and settle her. He coughed, loudly and spluttered 'ruler' at the same time. She suddenly got control of herself. Tim went back to what he was saying. "God gave men penises and women the opposite of a penis, a spa......."

"Vagina." Abby filled in for him carefully. Not a hundred percent sure how far he was intending to go. But this was Timmy, her very own resident prude. There was nothing to worry about. Was there? Tim didn't know if he was doing the right thing, but he barrelled on regardless. He was on a roll now and there was no way he could have stopped if he tried.

"The seed that God gave me was in my penis." He said squeezing Abby's knee at the same time. Her eyes nearly came out of her head. Ok, apperently there may be one or two things to worry about, she thought. She started coughing. Oh my God, he's really winging it now, she thought. Too late to save the pins now, the ball was already on its way down the lane. Dyl looked on interested. Sort of. Spellbound would be more like it. He was still trying to process the fact that his Dad had said penis and God in the same sentence. Not to mention that his Mom had said vagina.

"When Mom and I cuddled, the special cuddle that married people do, I put my penis inside her vagina and gave her the seed." Dyl's mouth dropped open. Then he closed it.

"THAT IS SOOO GROSS!" he said as he made vomiting motions with his fingers in his mouth. "HOW could you do that?" For one of the only times in Abby's life that she could remember, she was truly speechless. So was Tim. Surprisingly, Tim recovered first.

"It's not gross Dyl. We love each other." He said. "When people love each other and they're married....."

"Um.....thanks Dad but I get it now. We don't need to talk about it anymore......Ever." he said. As he picked up his remote and turned his television on, he made a decision. He was NEVER getting married. Like EVER!

TBC


	82. Chapter 82

Thankyou all for your reviews and alerts. I love them all. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 82

As they entered their bedroom, Abby burst out laughing and doubled over then she sank on to her knees on the bed.

"What?" Tim said. "I mean it,WHAT ABS?" Abby got up and wrapped her arms around Tim and hugged him tight while her body still shook with silent laughter. "Come on Abby. It was hard!" he said. That was the finish of rolled around on the bed no longer able to even pretend to hide her mirth. She had never sat through anything sooo uncomfortable and embarrassing as she just had. Tim had done a good job. Well, he must have at least got the point across because at least Dylan had stopped asking questions, but, whether that was from satisfaction or complete and utter horror, they probably would never know. Still they say you should be honest and it was that, honest.

"Tim.......you're my hero. You did a great job under VERY difficult circumstances and I'm proud of you.........But you have to be able to see how funny that was." She said as her gales of laughter calmed down to raucous giggles. Tim started to chuckle him self.

"Yeah. It was pretty funny." He had to admit finally. "When I heard those words coming out of my mouth, 'the seed God gave me was in my penis', Abby I swear, I don't know where that came from. It's not even technically correct." He said.

Abby became slightly more serious. "Please McGee, it was technically correct enough to suit the purpose. We can't confuse the poor child with the facts now. You can do it again when he's older. He 's had enough. I thought he was gonna lose his dinner as it was." She said smiling.

"Yes well he wasn't the only one." Tim said. At least the worst is over and we can start telling people anytime we like. Abby grinned.

"How about now." She said excitedly.

"You really want to do this over the phone?" he said. "Wait Abs, I've got a better idea. Why don't we get Sarah to watch the kids and we can go over to Tony and Ziva's and tell them in person." Abby jumped up and down and clapped her hands.

"Yes, yes, yes. Let's do that. I can't wait anymore. If I get to tell out best friends I'll be happy." She said. Tim went and talked to Sarah who was only too pleased to help out.

"How'd the talk go Tim?" she asked with a big grin on her face.

"Don't ask." He said "Listen, seeing as how the kids are here, you can ask Zac back if you want. I know you've gotta be excited to share the news too." Sarah gave Tim a big hug.

"Thanks Tim. I'd like that, and don't worry, I won't break the house rules." She said. "Besides, this family is in enough of a popularity explosion as it is. We don't need me to add to it." Tim frowned.

"No we don't. College first, and then a wedding with the lot." he said as he kissed the top of her head. Sarah smile at him tenderly. He really was a great brother.

As they drove over to surprise the Dinozzo's, Abby could hardly contain her excitement. "Do you wanna stop and get something to take over there?" Tim asked.

"Nah. Let's just go. I really can't wait and I don't think I could eat anything anyway Tim." She said as she shuffled around restlessly in her seat. Why did you always have to get every single stop light when you were in a hurry to get some where. It drove her crazy. As they drove past yet another store with Caf-Pow advertised, Abby sighed. "That's gonna be the hardest thing." She said seriously. "I don't know if I'm gonna be able to do it." Tim patted her leg.

"You'll do it Abs." he said smiling. "You'll have some added incentive."

Abby glared at him. "Tim McGee, you are not spanking me for drinking Caf-Pow." She said as she whacked him on the arm.

"I wasn't talking about spanking you, I was talking about you carrying a healthy baby being your incentive," he said rubbing his arm. Abby rubbed his arm for him.

"Sorry Timmy. I shouldn't have assumed." She said. "And of course I want to do the right thing by the baby."

"I knew you would Abs, that's why I said it." Tim said smiling.

Back at home the kids were in their rooms. They still had a little while to go before bedtime so Sarah said they could play until she came up. When Zac came to the front door, she kissed him warmly and grabbed his arm and dragged him into the living room. "I have news!" she said happily.

"Great what kind of news?" he said.

"Guess who's gonna be an Auntie Sarah AGAIN?" she said beaming.

"Um..........you?" he said as he lifted her up and swung her around.

"Yes me!" she said.

"Are they adopting again?" he asked.

"No, they're having a baby." She said excitedly.

With the exciting news out of the way, Sarah and Zac sat down in the livivng room and started to watch a movie. As they watched they held hands and sat close together. The movie they were watching turned out to be quite boring, so Zac got up to change it, but as he went to stand, Sarah pulled him in for a less than chaste kiss. As he sat back down and pulled Sarah on to his lap, they heard a small voice beside them.

"Are you giving Sarah a seed?" Jess asked innocently. Zac sat upright in the chair dropping Sarah to the ground and knocking over the popcorn in one foul swoop.

"Um..........no honey, we were......."

"Cuddling. You were cuddling." She said. "My Daddy said that when you do special cuddles you give the Mommy a seed. A special seed that God gives you." Holy Fuck! Zac thought. Pardon the pun. Thankfully, Sarah managed to scrape herself up off the floor and save the day.

"Sweety, we weren't doing special MARRIED PEOPLE cuddles. Ours was very ordinary and we were just kissing because we like each other. It's not the same as Daddy was talking about." She said hoping that her explanation would be enough to satisfy her curious niece.

"Ok. Sarah will you read me a story. I'm tired." She said.

"Of course I will." She said as she took Jess's hand. She rolled her eyes at Zac as she ascended the stairs.

"Why don't I put Dyl to bed." He said with a sheepish smile.  
"Good idea." Sarah said.

As Ziva answered the door to Abby and Tim her face lit up. "I knew it. You two have news." She said as she yelled up the stairs."TONY. They are hear." Tony bolted down the stairs two at a time.

"Come in guys. Can we get you anything?" he asked.

"No thankyou." Tim said as he looked lovingly at Abby. "We've come to tell you something."

"Yes?" Ziva said expectantly.

"We're gonna have a baby." Abby said as she jumped up and down taking Ziva with her, who was attempting to give her a hug. Tony slapped Tim on the back and then pulled Abby out of Ziva's arms so that he could give her a hug as well.

"WOW!" he said "When did you find out?"

"This morning. We couldn't say anything today because we had to tell the kids first and to do that, we had to get them on their own and believe me you're lucky that we did." Tim said.

"Why?" Ziva asked.

"They both wanted to know how the baby got in there." Abby said. Tony winced.

"Ow. Awkward McGee. How did you handle that?" he he would have loved to have been there for that conversation.

"Awkwardly." Tim said with a smile. "But don't gloat. I'm sure your conversation with the twins is on its way."

"Well if that's the case then I will handle it with all the Dinozzo charm and ingenuity that I use to handle every given situation." He said confidently. Tim grinned.

'And when that fails to help, I will explain." Ziva added. Tony narrowed his eyes at her.

"You disappoint me Ziva. Such lack of faith." He said with mock hurt. "I'm an excellent Dad aren't I?"

"Of course , Tony you are." Ziva said with exaggeration. "I am just worried that your overly great knowledge of the subject may confuse them. In which case, I will be happy to help."

"Thankyou my love. Much better." Ziva rolled her eyes and grabbed Abby's hand and towed her to the kitchen.

"We will get some drinks." She said on their way out. "So. You are happy yes?"

"Of course. Ziva I'm over the moon." Abby said. "You know I didn't even know how I wanted a baby this badly until it was on it's way. And now, I just feel like it's meant to be. Like it was destined."

"Well I am happy for both of you." Ziva said. "And Tim he is also happy?"

"Very." Abby said.

"Perfect." Ziva said. "Now what will you be drinking now?" Abby shrugged. She really didn't know.

"Juice?" she said as she shrugged.

"That would be a good start. You will just have to try some different things until you find the thing you like." Abby nodded. Six months, maybe more if you counted breast feeding, without a Caf-Pow, Abby thought. She really didn't know if she would make it.

The next day when Abby woke up she felt decidedly seedy. Not sick as in gonna throw up sick, but far from great either. Tim went downstairs and fixed her some tea. She couldn't touch it. In the end she settled on some club soda and a couple of crackers. The crackers seemed to do the trick and before long she was able to take care of a few of her morning things. Like getting herself ready for work and doing Jess's braids. Tim took care of the breakfast and the lunches, anything food related. Sarah was happy to take up any of the slack.

When they got to school, the kids ran off happily to be with their friends. Full of their exciting news. Maddie had already been dropped off so Abby text'd Kim and asked her if she would have time to meet them at NCIS. Then she did the same with Amber. And then Ducky. She hoped that Amber was gonna be happy about the news and not think that she was trying to take her spotlight. They had become good friends though and she didn't really think that Amber would be anything less than happy for them. And if she wasn't, too late now Abby thought. This baby was already on it's way, for better or for worse.

In the bullpen Gibbs was on his third cup of coffee for the day when the elevator dinged and his wife stepped out. He jumped up and went to greet her, a little concerned for her early visit. "Hey." He said. "What brings you here so early?"

"Abby does." She said grinning. "Asked me to come and meet her and Tim here."

Gibbs gut twisted. "Did she indeed. That's interesting." He said as the elevator dinged again. This time it was Jimmy and Amber.

"You too?" Kim asked. Amber nodded, she was wearing the same grin that was plastered all over Kim's face. Jimmy raised his eyebrows.

"Women's instinct." He said to Gibbs.

"Well maybe we better just call it instinct because I have the same feeling." Gibbs said. Mmmm. The Dinozzo's were late this morning too, he thought. That just increased the feeling he had. All the family were close but it was no secret that the Dinozzos and the McGee's were every close and it would stand to reason that if the Dinozzos already knew the news, then they would purposely come in a little late so as not to let the cat out of the bag. Yes he was even surer now.

When Tim and Abby finally did make it into the bullpen, it was to a sea of expectant faces all facing the elevator waiting to hear the news. Even Ducky who had come about ten minutes earlier. Tim grabbed Abby's hand and they walked into the bullpen together.

"Well?" Gibbs asked. They both had guessed that their friends had almost guessed the surprise and by the looks on all their faces they had all been right.

"Yep. We're having a baby." Tim said smiling. Gibbs face was lit up with the prospect of his Abby having a baby. He loved all of the kids that had come into their lives, but another little life was always gonna be welcome. "Congratulations." He said to both of them in turn as he patted Tim's shoulder and hugged Abby. "We had a feeling something was up." That's wonderful news." Kim said as she hugged her friend tight. Finally she might actually have something that she could help Abby out with. She had been such a great friend. Kim would love to be able to return the favour. Ducky shook Tim's hand and congratulated him before doing the same with Abby.

"Wonderful news." He said.

Jimmy was next and he gave his best wishes as well, and he meant them. It was gonna be great to have someone else to share the experience of babyhood Amber came over and pulled Abby into a hug. Tears came to her eyes and Abby's heart sank.

"Oh Amber, I'm sorry if you think.........." she started but Amber stopped her.

"You think I'm upset?" she said. "Oh the tears.....Sorry 'll get used to that, the whole tears at the drop of a hat thing. No far from it, I'm over the moon. When we've been all together and I've seen your kids all playing and building such great friendships with each other. I couldn't help but wish that our child would have that same opportunity; I thought it wasn't gonna happen. I thought our baby was going to be the odd one out. Now I know that he or she is gonna have a friend in the family. And that means so much more to me than you'll ever know." Abby burst into tears and Amber hugged her tight, while everyone looked on misty eyed. Even Gibbs. He managed to pull himself together first though as usual.

"Are we gonna get ANY work done here today people?" he asked, his voice husky with emotion. They all started to wander back to their own areas. Well those that worked o that floor at least. The others all headed for the elevator. Just then Tim's desk phone rang. As they listened to the one sided conversation, the people waiting for the elevator filtered back into the bullpen, leading them was Abby.

"What's happened." She said desperately. Tim covered his face with his hands.

"Guess what to day was for Jess?" he said. Abby went white.

"Show and Tell."

"Mmmhmmmm." Tim said. "Bet you can't guess what story she told."

"Bet I can." Abby said as she dropped into a chair and wept.

TBC


	83. Chapter 83

Thank you all for your lovely reviews and alerts. I love all of them even though I'm really slack at review replies, I love to know what your thinking. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 83

Tim immediately leapt out of his chair and wrapped Abby in a warm hug. The others were slightly perplexed with the phone call and Abby's sudden move from elation to utter devastation. Although truth be told, they had a pretty good idea what had happened. Looking up at all the expectant faces, Abby said the only six words that would shed SOME light if not ALL on the current dilemma, in the middle of a totally unintelligible sentence. "Special seed. Jess. Sister Mary Clarence." Kim immediately went to Abby's side.

"Honey, I know she can be scary, but what could Jess have said...then the meaning of the words that Abby had just muttered in the middle of her incoherent sentence dawned on Kim and everyone else. Except Jimmy."Oh." she said. "That kind of special seed."

"Special seed?" Jimmy said. Tim looked at him pointedly. "Oh. Ohhhhh. Special seed. OH."

Gibbs face was a study. To be truthful, while he hated to see Abby so upset, and he didn't want to see Jess get in trouble for something that was clearly said in innocence, he was imagining his own dinner conversation that evening. Selfish right? Couldn't help it.

"Um...how much exactly did you tell her?" Gibbs asked trying to hide his panicky expression. All the faces now looked to Tim who they thought might be able to share a bit more detail than Abby had been able to. Besides, he had been the one who had taken the phone call.

"Married people cuddles and special seeds from God, nothing to explicit." Tim said sheepishly. Gibbs just about choked on his coffee as he swallowed and inhaled a deep breath at the same time. "Of course according to Sister Mary Clarence, she may have added her own slant to the story, something about people who like each other having ordinary cuddles that don't have seeds from God..." he trailed off as he checked Abby's reaction. Thankfully, she had stopped crying now and started to giggle. A little. Not the kind of full of mirth type giggle that he would have preferred but the devastated, if I don't laugh I'll cry kind of giggle.

"Look Abs. I can go and see the Sister if you like, you went last time. I realise you might not be up to this at the moment." He said kindly. Abby jumped out of her chair and narrowed her eyes.

"What I'm not up to McGee is being treated like a weak female who can't even handle a delicate situation with her own children. Now let's go." She said as she stormed towards the elevator. Tim shrugged as he looked back at the others but followed Abby. He had no choice, she had a hold of his tie.

As the elevator doors closed on them, Amber sighed. "Oh Abby." She said quietly. "Welcome to the world of hormone changes." Kim nodded her head.

"Amen to that." She smirked. "Oh I think Mr McBossy is gonna be in for an interesting ride."

"I think we all are." Gibbs said smiling.

Tim and Abby sat outside Sister's office waiting to be admitted. Every now and then they would exchange a glance or two of apprehension, determination or resignation. They were teetering among all three, although Tim had pretty much settled on apprehension. Abby's head was filled with images of Jess doing her show and tell and the vast possibilities of what had been said. Her greatest hope was that the teacher hadn't let it get as far as the question answer phase, because that held more possibilities than even Abby could take in.

Eventually the door opened and the ominous figure of Sister Mary Clarence stood in the doorway. "Mr and Mrs McGee!" she said as she stood aside to let them in. Abby was sure she saw the secretary hide a smirk just before she slipped into the office. "Take a seat please." The Sister said. "And I wanted to offer my congratulations."

"Thankyou Sister." They both said at once. Tim took Abby's hand in reassurance for the 'but' that was coming.

"Look Mr and Mrs McGee." She said as she looked from one to the other. "I realise that you may have been put in the complicated situation where you may have felt obliged to try and explain ...things...difficult ...things...to your children, and I have to say that your reference to God and his gift of special...yes well it was unique and even commendable of you to bring God into the conversation." She battled along obviously not as comfortable as she would have liked to have been. "Well, the problem is, while I thought your explanation was... appropriate...for the... er...circumstances, it would have been better had you told Jess that these matters should only be discussed in the privacy of your own home. Abby smiled at Tim. Maybe it wasn't going to be so bad after all.

"The thing that became a little confusing though for the class and well for the teacher and...for me." She said as she cleared her throat. "Was the distinction that Jess made between cuddles." Ok now Abby felt sick. So did Tim. "She explained that there are different types of cuddles...married people special cuddles, where the Daddy gives...the Mommy the ...special...seed." she said as she mopped her brow, but the next bit was the clincher. "But apparently there are ordinary cuddles..." Abby and Tim's head popped up. This hadn't been in their explanation. How does a seven year old wing it? "That people that like each other 'do' but during these cuddles, no seed is given."

"I don't know where that came from." Tim said, honestly baffled.

"I can help you there." Sister said. "When the teacher questioned her about that bit, she said that Sarah had told her that. She apparently saw Sarah and...Zac...I believe his name was,...cuddling. I'm sure you can imagine the rest. My concern here is what Jess has been exposed to..." Tim and Abby sat dumbfounded. Tim was running over in his head the last conversation he's had with Sarah before they went out. No there had to be a reasonable explanation for this. Although it would have been good to hear it last night or this morning but... His thoughts were interrupted by Abby's voice. Uh Oh! He knew that tone.

"Sister Mary Clarence." She said. "While I can understand you being embarrassed by all this, particularly as it's a subject you're a bit out of your depth on." That was bitchy she knew, but she wasn't going to let her talk about Sarah like that, insinuating things that none of them were sure about. She might be a Nun, but she wasn't God and she shouldn't be judging without the facts. She shouldn't be judging at all. "I won't sit here and listen to you talking about Sarah like that. While she's not perfect all the time, she's basically a good girl and she loves those kids and she would never do anything untoward while they were in her care. She just wouldn't, and I'm really offended on her behalf that you would make assumptions like that without knowing all the facts."

"Mrs McGee, I didn't mean to offend you or Sarah, but I, as the principal of this school, need to make sure that Jess hasn't been put in an unsafe situation." She said in a firm but not ungentle tone. A tone though in her present hormonal state, that told Abby that she might be saying it but she wasn't sorry at all for offending her or Sarah.

"Fine. I'll get the facts." Abby said, but as she looked over she could see that Tim was already talking on his cell. He shut his phone and looked at her.

"What Jess saw." He said as he turned to Sister Mary Clarence. "Was a couple of teenagers kissing and literally just hugging."

"See!" Abby said. "Just kissing. I told you!" Tim frowned at Abby. His look told her to calm down. She picked up on it but didn't wanna listen. "You can't just jump to conclusions about people. I KNOW you're a Nun and everything and you don't know what it was like to be young but..."

"ABBY!" Tim warned. Oh God, did Abby remember this was a Nun she was talking to with that attitude. A Nun that just happened to be Principal of their kids school. Their kids that didn't seem able to behave for more than five minutes at a time while they were here. They really didn't need to make an enemy of Sister Mary Clarence. "Sister Mary Clarence. Abby's a little overwhelmed at the moment, with the baby and all. I'm sure that what she meant to say was that Sarah didn't do anything wrong, Jess just put two and two together and got five. Sarah attempted to fix the situation. That's all. And we should have explained to Jess that our talk was to stay at home. I'm sorry if it has caused any embarrassment." He said, glancing at Abby who looked like she was about to go into a fully blown tantrum.

"For a start, Mrs McGee,... Abby, contrary to what everyone believes." She said with a slight smirk curling the edges of her mouth. "I WAS young once and I wasn't born a Nun. And believe it or not, this is not the first time I have encountered this particular problem, and I daresay it won't be the last. But I couldn't just sweep it under the carpet and pretend that what Jess said wasn't said. I have a duty of care and I have to check on these things. If in fact Jess had seen something that she shouldn't , wouldn't you want to know?"

"Yes of course I would." Abby said calmer now that Sister had relaxed a little.

"And of course, I have to warn you of the possible repercussions from the parents. Believe it or not, there are some parents who don't agree with their children participating in sex ed at all, let alone a class taught by a seven year old during show and tell. Let's just hope that you made enough of a favourable impression at the birthday party that they will be prepared to look the other way." She said smiling.

"And if they aren't happy?" Tim asked. "What happens then?"

"You let me worry about that." She said smiling. "I think for the moment you two have more than enough on your plate to deal with."

"There haven't been any...rumblings from Dylan's class have there?" Tim asked.

Sister Mary Clarence chuckled. "Not so far. But it is but 11:00 in the morning. Give him time." Tim and Abby shook Sister's hand and at Tim's slight pressure on her lower back Abby apologised for any disrespect, begrudgingly.

In the car on the way back to the office, Tim glanced sideways at Abby, trying to gage her current mood. He had seen what Amber went through at first and he was expecting some kind of mood swings. But this was happening fast. She had been over the moon last night. And this morning. This seemed to have thrown her for a loop. He didn't really know how to handle it. Poor little thing, she must be really confused with her disposition so up and down. She was gonna need a lot of love and understanding. Tim loved her to death and was prepared to give her exactly what she needed. "Anything I can get for you Abs?" he asked.

"You mean besides a minder to tell me what it's ok to say and what it's not, and to tell me when to apologise when I've gone too far? Besides all that McGee?" she said grumpily.

"Yeah besides that." Tim said jokingly.

"Glad that I can be a form of amusement for you." Abby said as she rolled down the window ands turned her face away from him. Tim rolled his eyes. That went well, he thought.

"I can see you when you roll your eyes Tim." She said with tears in her eyes.

"Abby." he said, as he tried to take her hand. "I wasn't rolling my eyes at you, I was rolling my eyes at me and my ability to say exactly the wrong thing." She looked over and smile.

"It's alright Timmy. It feels like it's already been a long day." She said as she closed her eyes. "It's hard, it all went wrong with Jess and I'm soooo tired and it's not even lunch time yet. It's the lack of Caf-Pow 's probably why I'm so tired." I don't know if I want to lie down or cry or lie down and cry." She said as a big fat tear rolled down her cheek.

"You know what? Why don't we call in sick for the rest of the day." He said gently. We can go home and go back to bed for a while." He said as he stroked her cheek.

Abby looked at him incredulously. "Honestly. Is that ALL you think about. I just told you I needed sleep that I was TIRED! What do you suggest doing? Going back to bed."

Tim gripped the stearing wheel tightly as he stared ahead at the road, trying to figure out what had just happened. Slowly he pieced together bits of the last few sentences until a light bulb came on in his head. "Back to bed!" he said allowed. "Oh Abs, I didn't mean back to bed I meant to sleep. I could hug you and rub your back." He could see by the look on her face that she wasn't convinced, so he plowed on trying to repair the damage. "Or...you could go to sleep by your self, in the bedroom, with the door shut." When he saw her look softening he continued with some sucking up that he hoped would finally calm the beast that he sweet wife had become in the last few hours. "While you're sleeping, by yourself, I could do all the laundry and vacuum and...cook. I could cook anything you want." He said. Finally she smiled.

"You'd do all that for me Timmy?" she said sweetly. Thank God. Finally he started breathing again.

"I'd do anything at all for you Abs. You know that." He said. Abby nodded.

"Great." he said. "I'll let Gibbs know."

"Gibbs." He said as he answered his phone.

"Boss?... McGee. If it's ok, Abby and I won't be back for the rest of the day." Tim said.

"Everything ok?" he asked. "Abby's not sick?"

"No no." Tim said. "The Sister Mary Clarence thing went not too bad, but it took it out of Abby, she's not really feeling herself."

"That's fine, we're only workin cold cases anyway. You tell her I said to get some rest." He said as he ended the call. Tim turned to Abby to pass on Gibbs response,to find that she was once again pissed.

"In exactly which way am I not feeling myself Tim?"

"Um...well...I just meant that you were feeling a little emotional." He said pleased with his final choice of words. Wrong.

"Well thankyou very much Tim. Now we have to go to work." She said as she stared right through him.

"Abby...I ...just told Gibbs that we wouldn't be in." he said trying to be patient.

"Well then I guess you lied. I don't want every man and his dog thinking that I'm not capable of doing my job." She said. "Now I'd appreciate it if you would take me to NCIS."

"But Abby we were going to take the rest of the day off." He said.

"If you're not up to working Tim just drop me off here and go home. I'll call a cab." Abby said as she prepared to get out.

"Oh for heaven sake Abby. I'm not going to just leave you, and I was taking the day off to be with you. If you're going to work then so am I." he said.

"Fine. Then take me to work." Tim looked over at Abby and shook his head. Actually he wasn't game enough to ACTUALLY shake his head. But he was shaking his head inside his head. If Abby hadn't been pregnant, he would have stopped the car and hauled her over his knee by now. There was no way that he would have put up with this much attitude.

In the bullpen, the elevator dinged and everyone looked up to see who it was. "Hey guys!" Tony said. "The Boss said that you were gonna go home for the rest of the day."

"Clearly Tony, we're here." Abby said. Gibbs was just walking down the stairs from MTAC when he noticed their unexpected arrival.

"I didn't think you two were gonna come in today." He said. "I thought it was all a bit much and you needed a rest Abby."

"I am perfectly capable of doing my job Gibbs." Abby said with tears in her eyes. Tears that were more from frustration and anger than from sadness. "I can't believe that you would think, that just because I'm having a baby that...that...I'm suddenly incapable of running my lab." She said as she swung around and stormed into the elevator. They were all left staring at the space where she had been standing.

Tony clapped Tim on the shoulder. "Well handled Tim." He said. Gibbs raised his eyebrows in disapproval. Tim slunk over to his desk. It was definitely gonna be a long nine months.

TBC


	84. Chapter 84

Thank you all for your reviews and alerts, I appreciate each and everyone of them. Thank you so much. I hope you enjoy the chapter :)

Thank you to Maudlin Muse for the last comment. She's an authority on the subject so I'm told.

Chapter 84

Ziva looked on bemused at what had just happened. Actually, she did not know what had confused her more. The way Abby had just behaved or everyone's total acceptance of it. Gibbs had looked liked he disapproved, but he did not say anything. She exchanged a glance with Tony and the look that he gave her told her that he felt the same way. She sent him an IM

_Did you just see that?_ She said.

_**Sure did. Why do you think she's acting that way?**_ Tony said.

_I do not know for sure but I suspect hormone the Caf-Pow may have something to do with it._

_**How long does it last for?The hormone changes?**_

_I do not know. But Amber seems to be acting more normal now. So I think maybe not the whole pregnancy._

_**Mmmm. I wonder how long Tim's gonna put up with it before he snaps?**_

_I do not think that he will snap. She is carrying his baby._

_**Still, you'd have to be a saint and their relationship is...Tim just doesn't normally stand for any crap.**_

_Yes well I think things may change. We will see._

_**Yes we will. **_They both signed off . Ziva decided to go and talk to the person in question herself.

Down in the lab, the elevator dinged and Ziva walked out and into Abby's lab. The first thing she noticed was the music. It was clearly Abby's usual choice, but the volume was much lower than usual. Abby herself was no where in the vicinity. She was about to turn and leave when she heard soft crying coming from Abby's office. As she walked inside she found Abby curled up on her futon. She sat on the edge and put her hand on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Are you ok?" she asked.

"I'm fine." Abby said. Although her quiet sobbing told a different story.

"You do not look fine." Ziva he hand down and gently rubbing circles on her back.

"Thanks Ziva." Abby said half laughing, half crying.

"I meant that you look upset." She said smiling. Abby shrugged. "Are you upset?"

"I don't know what I am." Abby answered honestly. "Besides being really tired. It's making me so I can't think straight."

"I thought that you were happy about the baby." Ziva said cautiously.

"Of COURSE I'm happy about the baby. How could you even THINK THAT let alone say it." she said. "I TOLD YOU ALREADY I'M TIRED!"

Ziva tried hard to keep her patience. After all she had not been in Abby's shoes, she did not know really how she was feeling, but she was just trying to help. There was no need to be SO rude.

"Well then Abby, why did you not go home and rest like McGee wanted you to?" she asked sternly.

Abby shrugged again. "Don't know. Didn't wanna look weak I guess." She said. "And I don't want Tim deciding every little thing I do."

"Mmmmhmmm." Ziva said.

"What's that supposed to mean." Abby said grumpily. Ziva was her friend. She was supposed to be on her side.

"Not a thing. Except, maybe you were showing more attitude than was necessary." She said carefully. Abby shrugged yet again. Ziva almost laughed. She looked more like a pouty teenager than a soon to be mother of three.

"I'm tired and ..." she started.

"Which is WHY, your husband WANTED you to go home and REST." Ziva said irritably, feeling as though she was covering old ground. It was almost like talking to one of the twins; only if it WAS one of the twins she would have smacked their bottom by now. Instead she opted for pulling the throw rug up to Abby's chin and getting up. "Get some sleep Abby and perhaps you might save yourself from a spanking." She said.

"Timmy wouldn't spank me for being tired." She said with a yawn. "Any way, he can't spank me at all now, like that anyways, I'm pregnant." She pouted smugly as she drew the blanket over her head. Ziva raised her eyebrows and her hand hovered near Abby's rear end, but she changed her mind and got back in the elevator.

As Ziva sat down at her desk, Tony opened his IM.

_**You spoke to her didn't you?**_

_Yes._

_**How'd it go? Is she feeling any better?**_

_She is tired and bratty and in need of a damn good spanking._

_**So it went well then.**_

_It was like talking to Kyle._

_**That well. Tony said laughing.**_

_You are welcome to try, but she is asleep. Maybe later._

_**Nah. I think I'm gonna see how Tim's doin instead. Abby has you and Amber and Kim. **_

Ziva nodded at him across the bullpen and closed the IM window to get on with her work. Tony got up and went over to Tim's desk. He caught Gibbs eye on the way over. Gibbs gave him a miniscule nod that would have been invisible to anyone not looking for it.

"Hey Tim, come on a coffee run with me." Tony said.

"Ah...I've already lost a lot of time today..." he started.

"I'll have the usual Tim." Gibbs said gruffly. Tim smirked in answer to Tony's wide grin. They both knew that that was Gibbs way of giving his approval. He knew that Tim probably needed to talk. Gibbs would have liked to talk to him himself, but he would rather give him a chance to work it out first with Abby. It was all so new. They'd only just found out about the baby and with the trouble at school and everything... It'd do him good to talk to Tony, to vent with someone closer to his own age.

As they walked towards the coffee place, Tony looked sideways at Tim. "Abs not quite herself?" he asked. Tim's eyes narrowed for a split second before returning to normal.

"Just hormones, and it's been a hell of a day. And when we got to the school and Sister told us what Jess had said. There was some other stuff that she'd got mixed up. It almost got ugly. Jess had apparently seen Sarah and Zac, 'cuddling', there was a misunderstanding and Abby thought that Sister was accusing Sarah..." Tim started.

"Ow. I bet Abby didn't much like that." Tony said, guessing correctly the rest of the story.

"Well no. Neither did I, I mean Sarah has her faults but she wouldn't do that." he said. "But it's hard for me to lose the respect thing you know? For the Nuns."

"Yeah, I know. One look at them and I turn into an eight year old in trouble."Not that I ever had any experience in that area. Tim grinned.

"Plus, I really don't think Sister meant any harm she was just checking on Jess."Tim said honestly.

"Yeah. Abby was defensive though I take it?" Tony asked.

Tim scoffed. "To put it mildly. She told Sister Mary Clarence that she knew she wouldn't know what it was like to be young. She also said that she, the Sister, was out of her depth on this subject... No one expects her to bow down to Sister Mary Clarence but if you heard her tone, she was like an insolent kid."

"So. How long are you gonna let Abs get away with her attitude?" Tony asked.

Tim shrugged. "What can I do? She's pregnant. She can't help it. I guess I'll just have to lump it for now."

"What if it starts to rub off on the kids. It was bad enough when Amber was acting that way but she didn't have kids looking up to her, learning how to behave."

"I'm really hoping that she'll have enough control to not behave badly in front of the kids." Tim said. He really didn't know what he'd do if it came to that. Try and reason with her he guessed.

"Hey, if you wanna talk, or you want somewhere to come and hide?" Tony said with a grin. "Doors always open."

"Thanks Tony. I appreciate that." Tim said.

Back at the lab, Abby had woken up from her nap and was feeling a little better. She thought she should do something towards work but couldn't really settle on anything. There was no case at the moment so she started doing inventory but when she went to put on music, she just couldn't find the right track. Nothing sounded right. Nothing felt right. She was gonna go and talk to Ducky and see about the caffeine thing. She was sure the lack of Caf-Pow was causing this funk to be exaggerated. She hated to feel this out of control.

The elevator doors opened and Abby got out and headed into Autopsy. "Abigail!" Ducky said obviously pleased to see her. "How are you feeling my dear?"

"That's why I'm here Duck, I feel sooo tired. I'm not coping without my Caf-Pow. It's what keeps me going. I feel like I have no energy at all. If I'm so used to it, wouldn't it be better if I came off it slowly?" she said hopefully. Ducky sighed, knowing he couldn't give her the answer that she was asking for.

"No Abby. If you were talking one cup of coffee or a drink of cola. But Caf-Pow is absolutely riddled with caffeine. It's just not safe for the baby." Abby sighed. She guessed she'd been hoping for a miracle, but there was no way she was gonna put the baby at risk. They'd all just have to put up with her until she was over it.

"How long do you think it'll take to get over it?" she asked already starting to feel grumpy again.

"Abby that depends. Your habit was excessive so I'm afraid that your withdrawal will be the same." He said putting his arm around her. "You're just going to have to stay aware, and exercise a little self control." He said smiling gently at her. Abby stuck her bottom lip out. "I'm the one that's pregnant. We're both having the baby and I have to give everything up and Timmy doesn't, that hardly seems fair. He's gonna have to put up with me. For better or worse. That's what we said." She said with a pout.

"Abby." Ducky said disapprovingly.

"It's hard Duck." She whined.

"All the things that are worth waiting for are my dear." He said. "You'll come through this with flying colours, I'm sure." Abby gave Ducky a hug and walked back to wait for the elevator. She decided to go up to the bullpen and see Timmy. Ducky was right, she'd have to try harder, really hadn't been that nice today and she was feeling guilty. As the doors opened though, she found Tim and Tony standing inside with cups of coffee in their hands for themselves and Gibbs and Ziva. Immediately her bad mood came crashing back. She did use some self control though. There was nothing that Abby would have liked to do at that moment but to tip Tim's coffee all over him, but she didn't. She used her words instead.

"Don't you worry about me McGee and my struggle with no caffeine. You just go ahead and drink as much coffee as you like. The baby and I will be just fine. We'll manage." She said before she narrowed her eyes and stuck her bottom lip out, ready to go into a full pout. Tim sighed deeply.

"Oh Abs honey. I'm sooo sorry. I...honestly I didn't think. I...I won't drink it ok?" he said as he looked at her pleadingly. She wobbled her head a little.

"Thanks Tim." She said. "I didn't think it was like you to be that insensitive." She said now turning her glare on Tony.

"Hey!" he said. "You just put that glare away Abby. I'm not under your spell and I'm not giving up caffeine for your whole pregnancy, so you can just forget it." He said. Tim now glared at Tony as well. He rolled his eyes. They stopped at Abby's floor and she got out grabbing Tim's coffee cup as she went.

"I'll just throw this away for you Timmy so you won't be tempted." She said smugly while staring Tony down. When the elevator doors closed, Tony hit the stop button.

"Are you kidding me Tim?" he said as he slapped the back of his head. "You let her throw away your coffee why?" Tim sighed and looked embarrassed.

"I don't want to upset her Tony. The caffeine withdrawal is hard for her."

"MMmmm." Tony said. "You know you're creating a monster right?" Tim opened his mouth to try and explain but nothing really came to him. "Your call I guess."

That evening, the conversation was interesting at two dinner tables. At the Gibbs. Maddie was just full of information that she was eager to share with her parents. "Aunt Abby's pregnant, like Amber." She said to Gibbs.

"Uhhuh. I know. That's great news isn't it?" he said.

"Yep. Do you wanna know how it got in there? The baby I mean?" she said excitedly. Gibbs looked at Kim who shrugged.

"I'm sure Maddie that your about to enlighten me." Gibbs said with a smirk.

"Well, God gives the Daddy a special seed." She started. "Has God given you a special seed Daddy?" she asked. Gibbs choked on his coffee but did his best to catch the mouthful in his napkin.

"Not so that I've noticed Maddie no." he managed to get out between bouts of coughing. Maddie shrugged.

"Ok well when He does, you have to give it to Mommy." She said as though she were tutoring him in math. Kim raised her eyebrows. It was like watching a car accident, she couldn't look away. Gibbs didn't know if he was supposed to ask how, he really didn't want to. That was of no consequence, Maddie had every intention of telling him anyway. After all she might never get brother or a sister if her Daddy didn't have the right information. "You need to give Mommy MARRIED PEOPLE CUDDLES." She said. "There not the same as ordinary cuddles. There special." She said as though she were talking to a child who wasn't very bright. Gibbs again started with a bout of coughing. He pushed his coffee cup away from him. It was no use. He doubted he was going to be able to swallow anything anytime soon. The right words didn't seem to be coming to him and Maddie was looking at him expectantly. "Do you have anything to say?" she said.

"Really not sure." Gibbs said.

"Thank you Maddie." She said slowly with a smile. "Now you know how to get a baby."

Gibbs tried to hide a chuckle. "Honey we might not have a baby." He said. "But thankyou for sharing that information with me."

"Your welcome." She said politely. "Don't worry Daddy, we will have a baby. I'm gonna pray for God to give you that special seed you need." Gibbs looked at Kim and she grinned. He rolled his eyes.

A similar conversation was in progress in the Dinozzo house, but Kyle the smart ass was at the helm. Dyl had been too embarrassed to share more than the fact that his Mom was gonna have a baby. He was still reeling from the whys and wherefores yet to share that information. There was no need anyway. Kyle already knew and he planned to have some fun with it.

"So Aunt Abby's gonna have a baby?" he said smiling.

"Yes." She is. Ziva said smiling. "It is exciting yes?"

"Um yeah. How did that happen exactly?" he asked turning the question to Tony.

Tony grinned and looked at Ziva who tilted her head and smiled back. No, she wasn't gonna save him.

"Well, God gives the Dad a special seed." Tony started seriously going with the McGee explanation. Kyle giggled.

"A special seed?" he asked. "What kind of a special seed?"

"A special seed, a holy seed from God." Tony said a little irritated. He knew this wouldn't go smoothly with Kyle.

"Holy? Like it has holes in it?" Kyle asked innocently.

"NO. Holy like in God holy." Tony said.

"Oh. Just checking. So if God gives this special, HOLY seed to the Dad, why is it the Mom that has the baby in her tummy?" he asked with wide eyes. Tony was ninety percent sure this kid was playing him but the other ten percent of doubt made him plough on with the explanation.

Tony sighed. "The Dad has to give the seed to the Mom." He said hoping like hell that Kyle would leave it at that.

Kyle was really enjoying himself now. Was Dad really sweating over a few questions. "How? Does he just pass it to her like the salt?" Tony wiped his face on his napkin.

"No. No he has to give her special married people cuddles." He said looking at Ziva with pleading eyes. Her eyes were dancing. She couldn't have helped him out if she tried. It was all she could do to not laugh.

"What's a special married people cuddle?" Kyle asked.

"A special cuddle that married people give each other." Tony said pointedly.

"Mmmm. I don't think that I get it. How big is the seed?" he asked.

"I've never actually seen one." Tony said. "Small I would imagine."

"So, they're hugging and the seed is where?" Kyle asked. Tony realised there was no saving him, he was gonna have to say it.

"The seed is in the Dad's penis." Tony said. Kyle smiled. His Dad had actually said penis. This was even better than he thought it was gonna be.

"I still don't get it. How does he pass the seed to the Mom with his penis?" Kyle asked. Tony thought he may as well get this over with as quickly as possible.

"The Mom's lady parts and the Dad's penis fit together like a puzzle." Tony said at last and without taking a breath. Michael was smirking and Kyle was now giggling uncontrollably. Ziva's eyes were watering as she tried to keep herself in control. Tony narrowed his eyes at Kyle. "You knew all this didn't you?" Kyle looked sheepish.

"Well I knew a few things." He said gulping. "But I really respect your opinion Dad and I wanted to check if I had my information right. Now I'm sure that I did. Thanks." He said as he tried to jump up and run away. Tony grabbed his arm and swung him over his knee landing one really big hard smack to his backside before releasing him.

"Just confirming that I have MY information right and I do. You're a smart ass. And you know the cure for a smart ass don't you? A smarting ass."

TBC


	85. Chapter 85

Thankyou all for the reviews and alerts. I really appreciate them all. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 85

At the McGee house Abby could hardly keep her eyes open through dinner. Tim put his arms loosely around her shoulders as the meal finished, and place a gentle kiss on the top of her head. "Why don't you go and relax. Take a bath or something. I'll clean up and put the kids to bed and then I'll come up. Ok?"

Abby narrowed her eyes. "If you think you're gonna get lucky Tim..." she started.

Tim put his hands up in mock surrender. "Honey absolutely no ulterior motive I promise. I just want you to relax. That's it." He said smiling. Abby returned his smile with one of her own. Thank God Tim thought. I actually said the right thing. Maybe, I should keep notes, he thought. Things that make her happy and things that don't... And the things written in big red writing that totally piss her off. He didn't even mean to be glib. He wanted to do the right thing to help.

After clearing up and checking first Jess's homework and then Dyl's, he read to both kids and then went to check on Sarah.

"Hey Sar." He said.

"Hey." She said. "Tim I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you about what Jess saw. It was nothing. Really. I meant what I said..."

"Sh...it's ok. I believe you." Tim said giving Sarah a hug. "And for what it's worth, I thought you did a really great job of explaining to Jess what she'd seen. so thankyou." Sarah breathed a sigh of relief and clung on to Tim.

"I thought you were gonna be really mad. I didn't think...it...it sounded so bad even to me but it wasn't."

"Things get mixed up sometimes. Especially when your dealing with a seven year old. Don't give it another thought." Tim turned to leave.

"Is Abby alright. She was very quiet at dinner." She said.

"Yeah. She's really tired. Early pregnancy makes you tired anyway, but Abs has lived on caffeine for sooo long, her body and her mind are reacting badly to not having it. We're just gonna have to be patient." Tim said.

"Like a saint?" Sarah said giggling. Tim raised his eyebrows.

"At least as patient as a saint." He said nodding. He kissed Sarah cheek and left, time to face Abs.

He hoped the bath had relaxed her. As he opened the door he had to smile. She had obviously had ideas of making amends, she was wearing the infamous black leather thong. Unfortunately for Tim, his gift would have to remain unopened. She was fast asleep. He moved over to the bed quietly and pulled back the covers far enough to slip her inside, before flipping them back over gently and tucking them in around her shoulders. He skimmed her forehead with a gentle kiss before sitting at their desk and opening his laptop. He opened a Google page and typed in. 'Things that help with caffeine withdrawal.'

At the Dinozzo residence Kyle had snuck into Michael's room. Not that he wasn't allowed in there but he didn't want anyone to know WHY he was in there. "Mike." He said almost in a whisper.

"Yeah, I'm here. What you talking like that for." He said.

"I need you to do something for me." Kyle said. Michael blew out a breath and tilted his head on the side. This was gonna end up with him in trouble he could feel it in his gut, but he knew that he could never say no to Kyle so he listened intently. "Have you done your book report?" his brother asked.

"Yeah I finished it last night." Michael said frowning.

"Good. But I need you to hide it from Mom and Dad. Show them all your other homework when they check, just don't show them that bit." He said. See if you can keep them a bit busy. I have something I need to take care of."

"What?...Kyle what are you gonna do this time? Didn't you do your report?" Michael asked. "Did you even read the book?"

"Nooo. I wouldn't be askin you to hide yours if I'd done it would I? Please Mike. Just do this one little thing? For me?" Kyle begged.

"Yeah OK. But please don't do anything stupid." Michael said pleadingly. Kyle gave him a cheeky grin.

"You worry too much." he said. "I'll have the book report by the morning."

"How're you gonna read the book and write the report by the morning Kyle? There's no way you're gonna be able to do that." Michael said looking nervous. Kyle grinned.

"It's foolproof." He said. "I found this site on the internet."

"You can't do that it's ...wrong and it's...trouble Kyle, really BIG trouble." Kyle sighed. "'Sides, you have to pay for those things. They're not free." Kyle pulled a plastic card out of his pocket and held it up in front of Michael's face.

"Like I said. Foolproof. I have every angle covered." He said.

"How you gonna get Mom or Dad to let you use the internet tonight?" Michael asked. "It's nearly bed time." Kyle shook his head at his brother's lack of faith.

"Mom's in the bath tub and Dad's easy. You watch." As if he'd been summoned, Tony walked through Michael's door.

"OK boys, homework check." Tony said. Michael immediately got out his books and let his Dad have a look. "Great Michael. Kyle wanna go get yours?"

"Yeah, sure thing Dad. Could I ask you something?" Kyle said.

"Sure. Anything." Tony said. "Shoot."

"Um, there's this girl I like and well, I'd like to say goodnight to her on chat." Kyle said, knowing exactly which of his father's buttons to push.

"A girl hey?" he said chuckling. "Sure. So long as your homework's done." Kyle raced off to his room and got his words and Maths book. He opened his books up and showed his Dad what he'd done. "That's great Kyle. Off you go then. You can have fifteen minutes." Kyle gave him a brief hug and ran off to the office and shut the door. "Well Michael it's just you and me. Come on and I'll read you a story. If you want me to that is." Tony said. Michael beamed as he climbed onto the bed next to his Dad and snuggled in.

In the office, Kyle pulled a scrunched up piece of paper out of his pocket and copied the website address and clicked and kept clicking and following instructions, eventually, putting in the credit card details. When it came to the password, Kyle smiled. Luckily he had been watching and paying attention when his Dad had bought some movies online a couple of days ago and he'd written the password down first chance he got. He typed it in and waited for the site to download his report. When it was finished, he hit print and printed out the copy of the book report that he just purchased with his Dad's credit card. He couldn't help but feel a little proud as he stuffed the card back in his pocket and folded the report neatly. He hurried back to his room and put the printed out report in his backpack. No one will be any the wiser, he thought.

At the Gibbs house, Maddie was in bed and Gibbs and Kim were sitting in the living room talking.

"Maddie has her heart set on a brother or a sister." Gibbs said watching Kim's face for a reaction. She smiled.

"Well you know Maddie, she's so much better than she used to be but she still likes her way." Kim said. Gibbs nodded.

"Still, it's something to think about." He said. Kim snuggled in closer.

"Yeah it is that. Something to think about." She said. "I have to admit, she was really cute tonight. Explaining to you how to get a baby." She giggled at the memory of the startled look that Jethro had been wearing at the time. "You must just have the look of a person who doesn't know what they're doing." She teased. Gibbs tried to give her 'the look' but he couldn't help but chuckle himself. The whole thing HAD been pretty comical.

"Seriously though Kim, I need you to do something for me." He said.

"Anything. You know that." Kim said.

"It's Abby. She's struggling a bit I think. Will you talk to her please? You know, tell her some pregnancy stuff. Reassure her." he said.  
"I was gonna do that anyway. It'll be a pleasure." She said smiling.

"Thanks." Gibbs said as he leaned down to capture her lips.

At Jimmy and Amber's house, they were laying in bed watching TV. Amber had felt the baby move earlier that day and Jimmy was determined to not go to sleep until he had felt it too. So that's where they had been for the last several hours. In front of the television with Jimmy's hand securely on Amber's tummy waiting for something to happen.

"You know you might not even feel it Jimmy when it does happen." Amber said.

"Yeah I know. But if there's even the slightest chance, then I'll wait forever if I have to." He said.

"I'm not sure that you'll be able to feel it from the outside yet. It's just like a little butterfly fluttering its wings." Amber said with a yawn.

"I don't mind. Even if there's the slightest chance I'll feel it, I'd like to try. It'll make it more real you know?" he said.

"Yeah. I do know." Amber said. "Can you imagine Jimmy, in about seven years that could be us? You know like Abby and Tim with Jess today, and the where babies come from and all, that could be us with this little person." she said as she patted her tummy affectionately over Jimmy's hand.

"Yeah well let's just hope Sister Mary Clarence has been put out to pasture by then." Jimmy said with a smile. "She seems scary."

The next morning Abby woke up with a terrible headache. Tim really didn't know what she could take so he called Ducky. His own head didn't feel that great either from the lack of caffeine but at least he could take what he normally would. Ducky answered his phone on the first ring.

"Dr Mallard speaking." He answered.

"Hey Ducky it's Tim."

"Timothy my dear boy. Is Abigail alright?" he asked, a little worry creeping into his voice.

"Well yes and no. It's not the baby, but Ducky she has a terrible headache and I didn't know what was safe to give her." Tim said.

"Oh!...That'll be part of the withdrawal from the caffeine." He said. "Look, the best you can do is give her some Tylenol. Does she feel nauseous?" Ducky asked.

"Yeah a little." Tim said.

"Look. I know she's not going to want to but you're going to have to get her to eat something, even if it's just a piece of toast. But something, and then give her the pills. Try a cold compress on her head." Ducky said. "I'll come over and check on her myself later in the day if she isn't any better. And Tim? It might help to keep the room darkened."

"Right. Thanks Ducky." Tim said. He hadn't opened the blinds yet anyway so the room was fairly dark. He switched off the light in the bathroom that was streaming through a crack in the door and walked over to his dresser and retrieved a soft MIT T-shirt. He crossed to Abby's side of the bed and touched her gently to get her attention. "Hey sweetie sit up a little and let me pop this over your head." He said.

"Go way...sick Tim...bad...dying." she said. He had to smile a little. He sat on the edge of the bed and slipped the shirt over her head and then lifted her so he could get her arms inside. She immediately cuddled back into the pillows. Abs, I spoke to Ducky, he said you can have Tylenol, but you have to eat a little something first.  
"Nooot eating." She mumbled into the pillows.

"You have to honey, you can't take the medicine on an empty tummy." He said. "And I'm gonna get a cold compress for your head." Abby mumbled something else but it was lost in the pillows. Tim thought he was probably better off not getting her to repeat it. He doubted that it was a compliment.

Tim crossed to Sarah's room and after opening the door and walking over to her side of the bed, he shook her awake. "Sar?" he said.

"Tim?" she said through bleary eyes. "Everything ok?"

"Yeah fine. Sort of. Not really. Abby's really sick today with a headache. I have to look after her and I need some help with the kids. You know what to do. Just prod Dyl along and do Jess's hair that sort of thing. I'll put some bowls and spoons and cereals out for breakfast." Tim said.

"Yeah no problem. Is she gonna be ok?" she asked.

"She'll be fine. It's this damn caffeine withdrawal. It's hitting her really hard." He said. Sarah got out of bed and headed for the bathroom.

"I'll just shower and get ready myself and then I'll wake up the kids." She said.

"Thanks Sarah." Tim said gratefully.

Tim plopped a piece of bread into the toaster and while it cooked he put the kettle on for some tea and got bowls and spoons out for the kids. After putting out several different kinds of cereal, he placed a tray on the counter. The toast popped and he grabbed it out of the toaster and spread it with better and jam. He made the tea and grabbed the bottle of Tylenol and a bottle of water and the cold compress from the freezer. Tim dumped them all on the tray together before carrying the lot up the stairs. He just hoped Abby would cooperate a little.

Entering the darkened room, he crept over to the bed and put the tray beside Abby. "Abs?" he said. No response. "Abs, Honey?" he tried again.

"Tim...sick...leave me." She said. "Not hungry."

"Abby come on. I told you what Ducky said. You have to eat something." He said. Abby suddenly got some strength back in her voice.

"NO. Leave me the hell alone McGee!" she said. Tim scratched his head.

"No Abby I won't. Now please knock off the attitude and just have a few bites of the toast. Then you can take the pills and I'll put this thing on your head and leave you alone to sleep."

"Gotta go to work." She said.

"Don't think that's gonna happen today Abs." he said. "But why don't you do as I ask and we'll see how you feel after you take something?"

No." she said as she turned her back to him nearly knocking the tray and its contents all over the bed.

"Abby!" Tim said as he made a grab for the tray. "I've got hot tea on here, you could have burnt yourself." He said.

"And who's fault would that have been." She mumbled again into the pillows.

"I heard that." Tim said. "And I'm not going anywhere until you eat some of this toast."

"I said no McGee!" Abby said pulling the covers further around her neck. Tim ran a hand over his face. What was he supposed to do? Change tack and see if that helped he guessed.

"Come on Abby. I'm not playing. Sit up and eat the toast." He said. When he didn't get a response, he pulled back the covers and slapped Abby on the bottom once. "I said I'm not playing; now sit up and eat the toast."

"OW! McGee! Wearing a thong! That hurt." She said, but she did start to sit up and begrudgingly took the plate from the tray and started to nibble on the edge of the toast as she glared at Tim.  
"Come on Abs...I'm trying to help." He said.

"I know. Am I being a total pain in the ass?" she asked sheepishly.

"Nah...not quite a total pain in the ass, about ninety percent." He said with a grin that didn't even begin to express how elated he felt at the brief return of their usual banter. "I know that it's hard. I get it."

"Tim...I'm only gonna say this once, don't be too much of a pushover. I don't think it'll help." Tim grinned. "But Tim? I need you to stay off the caffeine with me. That will help OK?"

"Of course. Anything that'll help Abs. You only have to ask." He said as he leaned over to kiss her.

After Abby had eaten and even drunk a little of the tea, she took the pills and settled back in for another sleep. Tim was gonna go to work and Kim was coming to spend the day with her. At this point, Abby was a bit past caring. All she wanted to do was sleep. The thumping in her head was easing slightly but she was exhausted.

When Tim arrived in the bullpen a little late, everyone called out their greetings and asked how Abby was.

"She happy today?" Tony asked smugly.

"She's fine Tony, considering." Tim said. "You should try giving up caffeine for a day and see what it feels like."

"Ok, ok, I was just asking." He said.

"And I was just answering you." Tim said grumpily.

"So I see you have decided to go without caffeine also McGee?" Ziva said with a smirk.

"Yes Ziva I have." Tim said smiling. "I can't expect Abby to give up everything and give up nothing myself."

"Very commendable. You are a very good husband." She said with an even wider smile. Tony snarled.

"I'd do the same for you Zi." He said.

"Thankyou Tony. I will remember that." She said. Tony smiled until he realised what he had just promised and then he snarled at Tim. Damn Tim, making it hard for everyone else.

Just then Ziva's phone rang. "Yes Sister...I do not know...Tony checked the homework. We will be right there." She said and then hung up. All eyes were on her as she looked at Tony. He grimaced.

"Kyle?" he asked. Ziva nodded.

"He has handed in a book report that is not his." She said.

"I didn't see any book report." Tony said. "I checked their homework and I didn't see any book report. For either of them." Tony said. "Wait, who's book report did he turn in?"

"A bought one. Apparently, he bought one off the internet." She said a she prepared to leave.

"How?" Tony said doing the same. "Wouldn't he have needed a credit card?"

"Check your wallet Tony." She said. Tony opened his wallet and scanned through quickly for a missing card.

"Why that little..."

TBC


	86. Chapter 86

Thank you every one for all the revies and alerts. I appreciate them all. This is for Maudlin Muse who nagged the daylights out of me for it LOL

Chapter 86

Gibbs smirked at Tim and shook his head as Ziva and Tony hurried into the elevator. As the doors close Gibbs smirks at Tim and shakes his head. "It's like he was handpicked just for Tony." He said. Tim chuckled.

Sitting outside Sister Mary Clarence's office Tony was fuming mad. He was so mad that he forgot that he was terrified of being in the Principals office. Ziva wasn't too happy either, but she wasn't quite as angry as Tony. Kyle was naughty. Really naughty, but he hadn't had much guidance up until now. Looking at Tony out of the corner of her eye she couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Kyle. This was as mad as she had ever seen him. Ziva placed her hand on his knee hoping to calm him down a little. He looked at her and tried to smile, he really did. But it came across more as a kind of snarl.

Tony didn't know which thing to be angrier about. He hadn't seen a book report for Michael either which meant that Kyle had asked him to hide it from them. And he'd done it. Then there was the fact that all week he had probably been supposed to be reading the book. Which obviously he hadn't. Because of this, he hadn't done the report. He had then lied about wanting to talk to a girl, who probably didn't even exist, stolen the card from Tony's wallet, somehow figured out the password, which meant he'd been planning this for a couple of days at least. Then there was the fact that he knew enough to know where to find a site that sold papers, the buying of the paper itself and the handing it in and trying to pass it off as his own. How many crimes were on the rap sheet this time. Several counts of lying, cheating, trickery, theft and fraud. Not a bad night's work. Tony looked up when the door creaked open.

"Mr and Mrs Dinozzo, please come in." Sister said. They walked into the office and immediately zeroed in on Kyle who did at least have the good grace to look nervous as he stood by the Sister's desk. "As I was just explaining to Kyle, Mr and Mrs Dinozzo, we take this kind of thing very seriously. Kyle has broken our trust. And as I tried to explain to him, once trust has been broken it is very difficult to get it back.

She produced two papers from her desk. She handed one each to Tony and Ziva. "The one that you have Mrs Dinozzo is a sample of your son's actual work." Ziva tilted her head to the side as she tried to read the messy blotchy scrawl that was on the page that she held between Tony and herself so that he could see as well. The page that you are holding Mr Dinozzo, is the paper that Kyle tried to pass off as his own. Tony and Ziva sucked in a breath. The 'bought' paper, was obviously written by a much older student if not an adult. It was neatly typed and obviously printed, it had neat borders all around the outside and that was even before you examined the contents closely. There was no way this would even pass as a seventh or eighth grader's work let alone the work of an eleven year old. Tony looked over the top of the paper and glared at Kyle who gave him a nervous smile.

"Sister, I can assure you we do not take this lightly and Kyle will be punished for what he has done." Ziva said. Tony nodded in agreement.

"Do you have something to say to the Sister Kyle?" Tony asked. Kyle looked from his Dad to Sister and back to his Mom who was looking at him with disappointment in her eyes. For the first time since he'd been dragged up here, he felt truly sorry. He had upset his Mom and he did the only thing that he thought might help. He looked Sister Mary Clarence in the eye and said sincerely. "I'm sorry Sister."

"I'm pleased to hear that Kyle, but I'm afraid your going to have to be punished. You are suspended for three days." she said. "During your suspension, I expect you to READ the book that you were supposed to read over the last couple of weeks and do your OWN book report, which I want to see in my office before you're accepted back into class." Tony and Ziva looked at each other. Seemed fair. They thanked Sister and apologised again for the trouble, and took their wayward son and left.

Once in the car, Kyle couldn't be quiet for long. "Um...I'm in really big trouble aren't I?" he asked.

"Ya think Kyle?" Tony said.  
"Yeah. But...I...". Kyle really wished he could come up with a reasonable explanation but he had nothing. He didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry." He finally came up with and it sounded lame even to him. He tried to elaborate. "I tried to read the book but..."

"Yes Kyle?" Ziva asked. "Why did you not read the book?" Kyle shrugged.

"Not good enough." Ziva said. "I want an answer. Was the book too hard?" she looked into his eyes. It was lucky that their job taught them to suspect when someone is lying. Kyle looked at his Mom and couldn't do it anyway.

"No." he said softly.

"Then why?" she said sternly.

"I didn't want to." He said looking down.

"Thankyou for being honest." She said. Tony turned to look at her like she'd gone insane. There were a lot of words he would use to describe his son at the moment and HONEST didn't even come close to fitting the bill. Ziva put her head to one side to try and convey that he had taken her meaning the wrong way. His look to her said. You're nuts. The kid is Satan's son.

They arrived at NCIS and Tony parked the car and Ziva got out. Kyle was very close on her heels, he wasn't stupid and he knew he was safer with his Mom at the moment than he was with his Dad. But Tony was having none of it.

"Freeze Kyle." He said, "With me." Kyle looked at his Mom pleadingly but she sent him towards his father with a kiss on the head and small push in the right direction. Tony caught his hand in case he was thinking of running and toed him inside the building. Ziva looked on sadly. She knew that Tony was doing the right thing. The only thing, but it was hard to see your children punished. It was only now that she really understood why Abby got herself into trouble so much for covering for Sarah. Ziva chose to take the stairs and give Tony and Kyle some space. She was also avoiding those pleading eyes.

When the elevator dinged Tony and Kyle got out, well,Tony got out first and dragged Kyle behind him all the way through the bullpen and down the hallway to a conference room where he opened the door kicked it shut behind him. He pulled out a chair and pointed to it. "Sit!" he said.

"Dad...I.." Kyle started nervously.

"Don't want to hear it. What you did was wrong on so many counts. There's naughty Kyle and there's criminal. What you did was criminal and if you'd been an adult you could have been locked up for a very long time." Tony said as he started pacing. "Not reading your book, was naughty and wrong. Not doing the report was naughty and wrong. Lying about it was naughty and wrong. Getting your brother to lie about it was cruel, naughty and wrong. Do you want to know why it was cruel?" Tony said. Kyle nodded. That devastated him. He loved his brother, he would never be cruel to him. Tears stung his eyes as he listened to his Dad's tirade. "It was cruel because he adores you and you used that adoration to your own advantage. You manipulated him into making the wrong choice and now he'll have to be punished as well. Because he effectively lied to me . Because of you." Tears spilled over the top of his long lashes and ran down his pink cheeks.

"Please don't punish Michael." Kyle said through his tears.

"Too late for that. Next time think about how this felt before you ask him to get involved in your stunts." Kyle cried harder.

"Stop. I'm gonna give you something to really cry about in a minute. Save your tears." Kyle stopped crying and sniffled. "Now let's move on to the criminal behaviour shall we? Stealing my credit card. Against the law. Using a credit card to buy something that YOU SHOULDN'T BE BUYING ANYWAY! Fraud. Also against the law. Turning the paper that you didn't write into school as your own work plagiarism. Need I go on?" Kyle shook his head and then put it down, He couldn't even look his Dad in the face.

"Do you hate me?" he asked in a very small voice. Tony calmed immediately at the pathetic little voice that usually came out of his smart ass son's mouth.

"Of course I don't hate you. Why do you think I'm so mad? Because I care and I love you and I want the absolute best for you and Kyle? I don't want you to end up in jail one day." He sat on the edge of the table and beckoned his son. Kyle shook his head. Tony nodded and beckoned again. Kyle got up slowly and walked over to his Dad. "Pants off." He said. Kyle looked horrified. "Now."" Tony said, no longer angry but determined to follow through. Kyle slowly slid his pants to his knees. Tony grabbed his arm and bent him over his knee Lifting his leg slightly to tilt Kyle forward. Kyle squeezed his eyes shut tight as he felt his underwear being lowered. Tony brought his hand down with a resounding crack. Kyle started to cry immediately. Tony took a deep breath and brought his hand down again. Kyle jumped.

Tony found a steady rhythm and spanked Kyle hard and fast doing his best to ignore the pleading and crying. Smack after burning smack painted Kyle's bottom a bright shade of red but Tony kept spanking, determined that Kyle would not be able to just put this out of his mind tomorrow. He wanted him to feel this spanking every time he sat for the next couple of days. Tony brought his hand down hard on the tender sit spots over and over. When Kyle stopped his loud crying and started to quietly sob. Tony also stopped and rubbed circles on his back.

"Shh. Shhh. It's ok now. It's over." He said as he soothed his son. When sobs became a little calmer Tony lifted him up into his arms and cradled him.

"I'm...so...ry... Dad" Kyle said into his Dad's chest.

"I know you are son. Now. Just please try and remember this feeling ok?" Tony said.

"I will." Kyle said.

"Let's go back to the bullpen and get a drink." Tony said. Kyle gave him a grateful smile. "Then we can talk about all your other punishments." Kyle's mouth dropped open.

"You've gotta be kidding me! You just spanked the freakin daylights out of me. You mean to tell me there's more?" Tony shook his head as he ushered Kyle out the door with another hard crack to his already burning bottom.

"What? What was that for?" Kyle asked.

TBC


	87. Chapter 87

Thankyou for all the reviews and alerts. I appreciate them all and I love to know what you're thinking. Keep them coming. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 87

As Tony and a very red faced, swollen eyed Kyle walked back into the bullpen, Gibbs and Tim did their best to not lookup at either Tony or Kyle. Ziva gave them both a sad smile. "Care to join us in the break room?" Tony said to Ziva.

"Yes of course." She said.

"Kyle you stay here for five minutes and then come in." Tony said. Kyle looked at his Mom as she started to follow his Dad. He really wanted to go with her, his butt hurt bad and he needed her. He also wanted to know what they were talking about. He had a fair idea and he didn't like that either.

"How will I know when Five minutes are up?" he said.

"I'll tell you Kyle." Tim said. Tony had helped him out so much with all of his kids. It was about time he returned the favour. Kyle ignored him.

"Why can't I come with you now?" he said pleadingly to his Mom.

"Because you were asked to stay here. Five minutes is not a long time. You will be fine."

"But..." he started.

"No buts!" Tony said very firmly. "Unless you want my hand to connect with yours again."

"No thanks, I'll be fine." He said. As Tony and Ziva walked away towards the break room Tony turned back to his son.

"Sit in my desk and don't touch anything. AND, you can start reading that book." Kyle begrudgingly opened his backpack and got out the book. He plopped into his father's chair and immediately sprang back out of it again.

Gibbs looked very much like he was gonna laugh but he didn't. He stood up instead. "Goin for coffee." Is all he said. Tim swallowed to keep him self from laughing.

"You heard your Dad Kyle." Tim said. Kyle gave him a filthy look. Tim raised his eyebrows.

"Really?" he said. Kyle managed to turn the filthy look into his signature grin. Tim wasn't falling for it.

"Just sit down and read your book." He said.

"But it hurts." Kyle said. Tim shrugged.

"Who's fault's that Kyle?" Tim asked. Kyle tried to lower himself into the chair but couldn't bring himself to do it.

"How many minutes has that been?" he asked.

"Three. I'll let you know when the time is up now sit down." Tim said as he spun around to get something from behind him. Kyle took this perfect opportunity to poke out his tongue.

"I saw that." Tim said. "Do you want me to smack your bottom, because you're going the right way about ...Saved by the bell. You can go in to your Mom and Dad now." Tim said. Now that he had what he wanted, Kyle wasn't really sure he wanted to go in there after all. Tim saw his hesitation. "Come on, I need a drink, I'll walk with you." He said as he held his hand out. Kyle gave him an embarrassed smile but gratefully took his hand. When They got to the room Tim leaned down and said quietly. "Do yourself a favour Kyle, put the smart mouth away for a little while." He gave him a brief hug and went back to his desk.

Kim arrived at Tim and Abby's and let herself in with the spare key that Tim had dropped off to her that morning. She looked around at the slight mess and winced. Abby really must have low energy levels. It always amazed Kim how she managed to stay on top of things, with work and the kids and all. Still Tim helped A LOT. But even he couldn't stay on top of things if Abby was laid up. Still she could help out there. But first things first. She needed to see how Abby was.

As she opened the bedroom door she heard quiet sobs coming from the crumpled mound of sheets and covers on the bed. "You ok honey?" she said as she hurried over to Abby's side of the bed.  
"My head hurts and ..." Abby said as she started to sob again. Kim climbed up onto the bed beside her and pulled her into a hug.

"Shhh. Come on now. We can talk about it but first things first. When was the last time you took something for your headache?" Kim said.

Abby shrugged. "I dunno. When Tim made me." She said grumpily as she continued to cry. Kim frowned. This was not like Abby at all.

"Ok then. Guess I'll just have to call Tim and find out." She said as she flipped open her phone and dialled the number. After a brief conversation she hung up. Ok I'm just gonna go get you some Tylenol and something to eat.

"Don't want anything." Abby said. Kim shook her head. It was like having old Maddie back.

"Too bad honey, you're having something." she said. "And then you're gonna get up and have a shower while I change these sheets." Abby's crying had stopped and she was just sniffing now.

"Why are you being mean?" she asked.

"I'm not Abby, I'm HELPING you whether you want me to or not. Pout all you want." Kim said as she disappeared out the door.

At NCIS Kyle walked in and stood in front of his Mom and Dad. "Right. We have decided the rest of your punishments." Tony said.

"Obviously you are grounded. For three weeks." Tony said.

"No TV at all for three weeks." Ziva said. "That includes video games, movies any TV."

"No dessert." Tony said. "Not even at Tim and Abby's."

"So I still get to go to Aunt Abby's and Uncle Tim's house on Sunday?" he said hopefully.

"I wouldn't plan a celebration just yet. You will be going but you will be my shadow. Where I go you go. You will not be playing with the other kids at least for this week." Tony said.

"THAT SUCKS!" Kyle said and then clapped a hand over his mouth. Ziva nearly burst out laughing. Honestly he could not help himself. He was a trouble magnet, she thought. Kyle found himself spun around and the fire in his backside was suddenly reignited with a half a dozen hard whacks. "Ow, ow, ow, sorry, sorry, sorry." He said as he danced up and down. "What are you gonna do to Michael?" he asked with tears in his eyes.

"You leave Michael to us. We're still talking about you." Tony said.

"While you are suspended, you will stay here with one of us. And you WILL read that book and you will do the report for Sister Mary Clarence." Ziva said firmly.

"Yes Mom." Kyle said.

"I will show you the easiest way to do it and at night we will read some of the book together yes?" she said.

"Thanks Mom." Kyle said gratefully.

"We only want to help Kyle." Tony said. "We love you."

"Yeah, I can STILL feel the love." He said. Ziva shut her eyes. Tony really didn't know what to do. No matter how many times he spanked the kid he still came back with a smart mouth.

Back at Tim and Abby's Kim was venturing through the bedroom door with a tray that had tea and a sandwich and a bottle of water and some Tylenol. Abby was once again curled up in a ball.

"Ok. Sit up and drink your tea and eat your sandwich." She said in a no nonsense tone.

"I told you I'm not hungry. My head hurts." Abby said.

"And I told YOU I wasn't going to take no for an answer." Kim said.

"Go away." Abby said. "You're being mean."

"Not going anywhere Abby. Now don't make me phone Tim." she said.

"What good would that do?" she asked. Kim shook her head. She'd never really seen this side of Abby before. She had seen most of Abby's sides but not this whiny cranky one. She opened her phone and Abby looked out of the corner of her eye.

"No don't." she said as Kim had nearly all the numbers punched in. "I'll eat." She knew Tim wouldn't do anything, but she did love him and didn't want to be a total pain in the ass to him while he was trying to work. She took the tray and nibbled on the sandwich and took a sip of the tea. After the third little nibble Kim rolled her eyes.

"Oh for God's sake Abby take a bite. You're still gonna be sitting here when it's time to pick up the kids." She said. Abby glared at her but took a bigger bite, she had to admit, she actually was quite hungry. She finished the sandwich and the tea and swallowed the Tylenol with some water. "Good girl!" Kim said with a smirk. "Now hit the shower." She already had clean linens out to change the bed. By the time Abby was out of the shower and dressed, the bed had been neatly made and she had to admit she felt a whole lot better. She sat on the bed and turned the television on. Kim was nowhere to be seen. She was actually downstairs juggling laundry from the washer to the drier and tidying up. The dishwasher was humming and she was finishing off a casserole for the family's dinner. Just as Abby was about to dose off again, Kim came in and climbed up next to her on the bed. She took the remote from Abby and turned off the television.

"Let's talk." Abby looked at her and shrugged.

"I don't know what you want me to say." She said. "I've been behaving badly, I know that. I'm sorry Kim. I know your only trying to help."

"Thankyou but that's not what I meant. Why are you being so difficult to get along with in general not just to me?" Kim said. "You and Tim are happy about the baby, you have a nice house, enough money, you have a husband and children that adore you, friends to support you. What's the problem?" Kim said.

"I don't know. One minute I feel happy and in control, and then out of the blue I just feel angry and then sad and like nothing is in my control anymore. And the scariest thing is that I can't control them, the moods, I can't help it." Abby said.

Kim nodded. "It can be difficult in the early months. It does pass you know. But Honey, you need to try harder. If you're ill, that's one thing. You have every right to crawl up into a ball until you feel better, but refusing help and meds that will make you feel better because you're in an obstinate mood is just childish and I'm surprised that Tim is letting you get a way with it." She said.

"Tim won't spank me while I'm pregnant." Abby said. Kim looked at her carefully trying to gage what she was feeling.

"Oh? And how do you feel about that?" she asked. Abby shrugged.

"I don't know." She said honestly.

"What do you mean you don't know? Are you pleased? Are you Sad? Are you pissed about it?" Kim asked, trying not to sound like she was interrogating her. Abby looked like she was really thinking about the questions. Kim could almost see the light bulb go on in her head, but the answer that came out of her mouth was contradictory.

"I don't care." She said. Kim rolled her eyes. It was like pulling teeth.

"Sorry, I don't believe you Abby. Try again." She said.

"You are being sooo bossy today." Abby said.

"Yep, now answer the question." Kim said.

It was now Abby's turn to roll her eyes. "Oh alright, I feel scared. Happy now? The fact that Tim's not spanking me is making me feel scared." She burst into tears again. Kim immediately wrapped Abby in her arms and soothed her.

"Shh. Shhh." She said.

"I guess knowing that Tim will always stop me from going too far, from I don't know, lots of stuff, from being me, it makes me feel kind of safe." She said. "I mean, it's not like we're in one of THOSE relationships or anything, but I kind of like Tim being in charge. It's us. And now I ...it feels different. And it's scary."

"Do you think that's making you feel out of control?" Kim asked. Abby shrugged.

"I don't know. I don't know anything anymore. I feel like my head's so full of fuzz that I don't know which ends up." She said.

"Abby, if you need me to listen, I'll always be here, but you need to talk to Tim. He needs to know what you're feeling." Kim said.

"What do I say, when I don't know what I'm feeling myself." She said.

"Tell him exactly what you told me." Kim said. "I'm sure he only wants to make you happy." Abby nodded. "Now time to get the kids. Feel up to going for a drive?"

"Yeah. I miss the kids. I'd love to go get them. We'll take the van." Abby said.

Tony grabbed hold of Kyle's arm and proceeded to march him to the corner, Kyle's free arm quickly covered his bottom to protect it, but Tony didn't smack him again. "Ten minutes Kyle and then You're gonna sit at my desk and write one hundred times. I will not be a smart mouth anymore." Kyle turned and almost answered back, but the thought of sitting on an even sorer ass, helped him to keep his mouth firmly shut. While he was in the corner he couldn't help but let his mind drift to things he'd rather not think about. His brother being in trouble because of him, being grounded. The most disturbing thought though was the one about the secret. The secret that no one knew except him. He wished now that it wasn't too late but it was. The ball was already rolling. They were on their way and his Dad was gonna kill him, but at least Michael didn't know anything about it, so he couldn't get into trouble. He almost smiled. It might actually be worth it when the other kids saw the pack of assorted fireworks he had ordered on line.

TBC


	88. Chapter 88

Thank you all for you rreviews and alerts I appreciate each and every one of though I am the worlds worst at review replies. I love to read what you all are thinking. It makes my day. I hope you all enjoy this chapter :)

Thank you again to Maudlin Muse who helped to mull over some ideas with me.

Chapter 88

Abby and Kim picked up the kids and dropped Michael off at NCIS as Ziva had asked them to do. She was waiting out the front for him. He had been playing DS happily in the back of the van with Dyl. But his face dropped when he saw his Mom. Not that he wasn't pleased to see her,he loved his Mom. But he was gonna be in trouble for hiding his book report and covering for Kyle. He hoped his brother hadn't been in too much trouble. The chances of him not being in much trouble though were zilch considering all the stuff he'd managed to do wrong. And now he was suspended. His ass was grass. Actually it was fire but that didn't rhyme.

Abby opened the sliding door and let Michael out. She gave him a hug as he jumped out of the van."Be honest honey, it always helps."she said

Ziva hugged Abby and then Kim. Then she took Michael's hand and they walked inside.

"You are in some trouble young man." She said sternly. Michael nodded sadly.

"I know Mom. I'm sorry. But he's my brother and you can spank me forever and I'll still always look out for my brother." He said. Ziva nodded.

"I can see that your loyalty is strong. Very strong. But you say that you want to look out for your brother, does that not include helping him to stay out of trouble or from getting hurt or suspended?" Ziva said giving him food for thought.

"I guess. I don't really know what you mean." Michael said. They were in the elevator now and Ziva hit the button to stop it.

"Let us take what happened last night. Kyle asked you to not show Dad your book report yes?" she asked.

Michael nodded. "Uhuh." he said sadly. He hated betraying his brother.

"Now if you would have showed your Dad, what would have happened?" Ziva asked. Michael shrugged.

"Dad would have asked him where his was and he would have got in trouble." He said.

"MMmm. What kind of trouble." She asked.

"He would have got a spanking and he would have got in trouble at school for not doing the work." Michael said.

"So you covered for him to stop him from being in trouble?" Ziva asked. Michael nodded but put his head down. "But Michael. He has been in sooo much more trouble than that. He has had a very hard spanking, and more smacks for his smart mouth and he is grounded for three weeks. No television, no video games, no dessert. Do you still think that covering for Kyle helped him?" she asked.

"No...but he's my brother." Is all that he could think of to say.

"Well you have made a choice Michael." Ziva said. "Not a very good choice. You are now grounded as well for one week. No television, no video games and no dessert. No spanking this time. But I cannot guarantee that next time you will not get in as much trouble as your brother. NO MORE covering up." She said firmly as she lifted his wobbling chin. "Your brother does not always make good choices so we HAVE to punish him. But we love him too and we want what is best for him. You can trust us." Michael nodded and threw himself at his Mom's waist and she clung to him too. This was a sweet boy. Both boys had their strengths. Michael was sometimes, well a lot, he was overshadowed by his brother's outgoing personality, but he was such a sweet caring boy. Too caring sometimes.

When the elevator started up and they walked into the bullpen, Kyle looked up from Tim's desk where he was now sitting, very uncomfortably doing his lines and smiled. But at the sight of his brother, he his face dropped. Mom had obviously already spoken to him. Had he been crying? Kyle felt bad. He hoped at least he didn't get spanked. Michael looked back at him and gave a weak smile. Kyle mouthed "sorry". Michael mouthed back "me too." Tim looked at Ziva over their heads with a sympathetic look. You couldn't help but be touched by their unwavering loyalty to each other. Kyle watched carefully as his brother sat and then he breathed a sigh of relief. He was able to sit just fine and that made him feel a lot better.

Kyle started his lines again but his mind was racing. He had to find a way to contact Jimmy. When he'd ordered the fireworks, he had to put an address for delivery. He'd picked Jimmy because he thought that he would be the easiest to get around. He was sure that he would fall for the story he had thought up. He was gonna tell him that he'd used his allowance to buy his Dad a surprise gift. He would say that he had it sent to Jimmy because he knew he could trust him with a secret. But he was being watched like a hawk. He thought his chance had come when his Dad had to go and check out a lead with Gibbs but he'd been placed in the custody and protection of first his Mom and then Uncle Tim while his Mom was downstairs. He may as well be in jail. He'd just have to bide his time and hope that the opportunity to speak to Jimmy and explain came to him before the goods were actually delivered or everything could blow up in his face. He giggled at his joke. Tim looked at him seriously.

"Sorry. I was thinkin of somethin funny." He said as he pressed his lips together to keep from laughing. Luckily for him he didn't have to wait long. Tim found something and he and Ziva had to follow a lead, so the twins were taken down to Ducky and Jimmy. As they reached the lab and Ducky and Jimmy said hello, he jumped at the opportunity before him. "Mom, I need to go to the bathroom." He said. Ziva looked at Jimmy.

"Would you mind Jimmy, accompanying him? He's tricky." She said as she grinned at her son and smacked his bottom rolled his eyes. Jimmy smiled.

"Sure thing Ziva. Come on Kyle." He said happily.

"Well Michael, pleased to see you again young man. What would you like to do?" Ducky said.

"He will do his homework Ducky. And Kyle when he comes back from the bathroom, needs to finish writing lines and start reading his book. And they will not give you any trouble will you?" Ziva asked.

"I won't." Michael grinned.

"And neither will your brother." Ziva said. "Or he may never sit comfortably again."

"We'll be fine Ziva. You go." Ducky said.

On the way to the bathroom, Kyle had his perfect opportunity.

"Jimmy can I ask you a favour?" he asked.

"Sure thing Kyle. What can I do for you." He said.

"Whew. I was hoping you'd say that cos I already sort of started planning it." Kyle said.

"Started planning what?" Jimmy asked.

"The surprise for my Dad." He said. "I wanted to give my Dad a surprise. A present. But I need your help."

"Jimmy's face lit up. "Wow! That's really nice of you Kyle. What did you have planned?"

"Well, it's just something I bought off the net. The present. I saved up my allowance. Anyway, I already bought it but I couldn't have it sent to my house on account of it would spoil the surprise and all. So, I had it sent here. To you. I just knew that you were the one person here that I can trust. So when it arrives I just need you to sign for it and then when no one's around you can sneak up to the bullpen, if I'm not down here, and slip it into my back pack. I can take it from there. Will you do that for me Jimmy? I'd owe ya big time. I'd do anything you want. Anything." Kyle begged as his big eyes peered through his blonde curls. Jimmy thought about it for a minute. He knew Tony wouldn't be happy that he kept something from him, about his son, but once he was given the gift he'd understand.

"Ok. I'll do it." He said. Kyle hugged him tightly.

"Thanks Uncle Jimmy." Kyle said. "I won't forget this." Neither would Jimmy but he didn't know it at the time.

The rest of the afternoon passed fairly quickly and Tim was soon walking in the door at home. He was happy to see Abby up and about. Although she didn't look like her usual bouncy self, she definitely looked better than this morning. Tim crossed over and kissed her, pulling her into a hug.

"I...I'm sorry Timmy." She said as she hugged him tighter.

"Sorry for what Abs?" he asked.

"Sorry for being mean and horrible and a total pain in the ass." She said. Tim smiled and wrapped his arms around her tighter.

"It's ok Abs." he said gently.

"NO IT'S NOT! IT'S NOT OK!" she shouted. Then remembering the kids she lowered her voice. "I need my OLD Timmy back. The one who would tell me to knock it off or else. The one who stood up to me and made me feel safe. I...don't feel safe Timmy..I feel...like everything's changing and I need you to be the one thing in my life that doesn't change." Tim pushed her back a little so that he could really look at her.

"You WANT me to spank you Abby? Is that what you're asking?" he asked. Abby wiggled her head.

"Maybe. I don't know. Well not hard anyways." She said. Tim grinned. She was still cute.

"Well if what you're telling me is that you want me to be in charge, then I don't think you get to decide how hard Abs. That would mean that you were in charge." He teased.

"You're twisting my words." She said. "You know we're not in a DD relationship."

Tim grinned. "I know." He said. "You've told me." He knew he shouldn't tease her but it had been a few days since they'd had any fun and hell he was enjoying himself. "WE don't do discipline. You just want me to help keep you inline and if you go too far then reign you in. Have I got it right?" Abby narrowed her eyes. "You're twisting things again." She said a small smile turning up the corners of her mouth. Tim raised his eyebrows.

"Ok. Why don't you spell out for me exactly what it is that you want. Again. So I'm sure." He said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Ok. I want you to act normally. Like you usually do." She said. "If I'm being mean and unreasonable, I want you too stop me. Anyway you need to." She said. Tim grinned.

"And how would you suggest that I do that Abs?" he asked trying to sound innocent.

"The usual way." She a little louder and a little slower. "You would tell me to stop. And if I didn't stop..." she said.

"Yes Abby?" he asked. His face deadpan.

"TIMMMM!" she said. He still waited. "Oh alright. If I don't stop then I want you to spank me. But not too hard. There I said it. Are you happy?" Tim grinned.

"Yeah. I'm happy that you're back." He said. "As for the discipline? If that's what you want."

"Wait, wait wait. What discipline? That's not what I said." She said.

"Sorry I forgot. You don't want me to discipline you. Just spank you." He said grinning.

"Exactly." Abby said as she kissed him deeply. "I knew you'd get it eventually."

"Oh Abs, I always had it." He said. "But do you?"

"I don't know what you mean." She said.

"That's ok, I know you'll get it eventually."

"Mmmmm" she said. "We are what we are Timmy."

"And that's enough for me Abs." Tim said smiling.

TBC


	89. Chapter 89

Thankyou so much for all the reviews and alerts. I really appreciate them all. I know I always say it but its true. I love to know what your thinking. I hope you all enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 89

The next day. Kyle had almost forgotten about the 'special' package, when he opened his back pack to take out his book, and found it waiting inside. Jimmy had done it. And without alerting anyone either. He really did owe him big time. Just to make sure that nobody caught a glimpse, he stripped off his sweater and stuffed it inside the backpack pack to cover his contraband.

Kyle was even happier when he heard his Dad and Uncle Tim talking. It seemed that Dyl was gonna be at NCIS with them this afternoon because Aunt Abby had come back to . That meant he could make arrangements for this coming weekend to let the fireworks off. If they could all maybe figure out how to meet at the local park, that would be the best idea.

"Are you actually reading that book?" Tony asked.

"Um...yeah...mostly." he said as he found the book pulled out of his hands.

"Fine. What were the last two words that you read?" Tony said. Kyle wracked his brain for two words. Any two words that might have been on either of the two pages that his Dad was staring at. He had nothing. Shit. "Mmm. Just what I thought. Come over here and sit right by me. You can read aloud." He said. Ziva got up and joined them, remembering her promise to help. She passed him a notebook and a pencil.

"Kyle, after you read one page. In your own words, write what the page was about. Then when you go to write your report you will just have to put together your notes." Ziva said.

"OH MAN! That means I have to write it twice! Sister said I only had to write it once! That's sooo not fair." He whined.

"HEY!" Tony said. "Was that your MOM you were just speaking to in that tone?" Ziva clipped Kyle around the back of his head.

"Just do it." She said. As a rule, she thought Tony was sometimes a little harsh, but after having Kyle here on suspension from school, her patience for all of his smart ass comments were wearing very thin. Tony grinned behind his hand. Kyle better watch it or he just might find out what a pissed off ninja Mom spanking was like. He guessed it wouldn't be pretty.

Kyle though was not easily intimidated. He picked up the book and started to read. Out loud. VERY loudly. And with feeling. Gibbs and Tim looked at each other warily. This was about to get ugly. It was obvious that both Tony and Ziva's tempers were simmering. It was just a matter of who was gonna blow first. Kyle either didn't notice or didn't care because he just got louder. Ziva narrowed her eyes.

"Kyle!" she said as she glared at him. "Enough." Kyle threw his arms up in the air in mock disgust, trying hard to keep the smirk from his face.

"What NOW?" he said. But he didn't even see what happened next coming, as his Mom flew up out of her seat at the same time as Tony pushed his chair out of her way. She grabbed Kyle by the ear and marched him out of the way of the desks and the moved her hand from his ear grabbing him firmly by the arm and then she marched him towards the conference room punctuating every step with a hard smack to his rear end. The others were all shocked into silence as all they heard were Kyle's loud yelps as he was led away by his irate mother. When the door finally slammed shut, the three remaining agents burst out laughing.

"He didn't see that coming." Gibbs said with a smirk.

"I did." Tim said. Tony nodded.

"Oh now he's really done it." He said.

Ziva kicked out a chair and tipped a stunned Kyle over her knee. She slammed her hand down over and over. His bottom was still sore from the day before, so it didn't take much to reignite the fire. Kyle was crying almost from the get go. As much from the shock of who was spanking him as from the painful spanking it self. And it was painful. He had his pants still up and he felt like he was on fire. He tried to put his hand back to protect himself but it was captured immediately and held behind his back as his Mom continued to rain hard smacks all over his burning rear. When she started on his sit spots he sobbed. "Please Mom stop." He said. "I'm sorry." Ziva stopped and stood him up in front of her.

"I am your mother and I WILL be treated with respect. Do you understand?" Kyle nodded. "Good. Now we understand each other. When you go back to your father's desk you will read one page and then write down what you read in your own words as I said before."

"Yes Mom." He said. "Can I do it standing up?" Ziva had to press her lips together for a moment to keep from smiling.

"NO. You will sit. It might just remind you to behave." She said. Kyle brushed the tears from his face with his arm. And gratefully accepted the hug his Mom was now offering.

As the two returned to the bullpen, the others kept their heads down except for Tony who frowned. "Was it worth it?" he said keeping his face deadpan.

"Not so much." Kyle said as he glanced at his Mom and struggled onto his chair. Tim was typing away furiously on his computer still not game enough to look up in case he started to laugh, and Gibbs suddenly had to go for coffee again. After a few moments, Tim found he needed a break too and headed down to the lab to see Abs.

The elevator dinged and Abby gave Tim a small smile as he walked into the lab. "Hey Abs. You doin ok?" he asked. She shrugged.

"Getting there. My headaches are not too bad today, so that must mean it's starting to get a bit better." she said as she reached up to kiss him.

"What's happening in your world Timmy?" she asked.

"My world is hilarious up there." He said. "Kyle just cannot keep his smart mouth shut. He just pissed off Ziva BIG TIME!" Tim told her enthusiastically. Her eyes nearly came out of her head.

"What'd she do?" Abby said still wide eyed.

"She dragged him off to the conference room spanking his butt all the way. I assume that after she kicked the door shut she gave it to him good because he was NOT sitting too comfortably when he came back." He said. He was still chuckling at the look of shock on Kyle's face as Ziva flew out of her chair. Abby tried to suppress a giggle but couldn't. "Oh poor Kyle...that would have been. Not pleasant." she said.

"I think that's an understatement." Tim said still grinning. "Lesson number one. When Ziva says, Kyle enough, you don't say. WHAT NOW ?."

"Oh my God! Is that what he said?" Abby said incredulously. "The kid has a death wish." Tim nodded.

"Yep. He has no filter." He said.

"But he is cute." Abby said.

"Mmmm." Tim said.

Later that afternoon when the kids had been picked up after school, Kyle waited for the perfect opportunity to speak to Dyl. He was gonna have to tell Michael eventually, there was no way he was leaving him out of this, it was gonna be too special an occasion, but the longer he waited to tell him the less trouble he would get him in. Noticing that Dyl was in the break room, Kyle asked Tony if he could go and get a drink. Luckily his Dad was really busy and didn't notice that Dyl was in there. He said yes, but be quick and come straight back.

Unfortunately when he got to the break room, both Jess and Maddie were in there too. Maddie's Mom was downstairs visiting Aunt Abby. Kyle stopped for a minute, he wasn't sure. Still he may not get another opportunity. He shrugged. No choice really, besides, the girls didn't tell on them about the mailbox. He bit the bullet.

"I have a big surprise if anyone's interested." He said laying the bait. The girls looked at each other in wonder. They couldn't believe they were being let into one of Kyle's special ideas.

"We are!" they both said at once. Kyle looked at Dyl who looked a little nervous.

"Depends. What is it?" he asked.

Checking first that they weren't gonna be overheard, he said quietly. "Fireworks." He said. Dyl's eyes lit up.

"Not just sparklers?" he said.

"Nope. Real ones." He said. "Thing is, we'd have to sneak out at night, and I don't know if you three are up to that. Yet," he said looking at them out of the corner of his eye.

"We are. We all are." Maddie said. "But how will I get there on my own?" Kyle thought for a minute.

"You'll have to talk Aunt Abby and Uncle Tim into letting you stay on Friday night. And then you pretend to be asleep and when all the old people are asleep, you sneak out and walk down to the park, and Michael and I will meet you there." He said.

"Can I bring Toby?" Dyl asked.

"Sure you can. But you'll have to see how you can get him out of his house. Maybe you can get him to have a sleepover as well." Kyle said. Dyl nodded.

"Ok. What time?" he asked.

"I'd say 8:30pm. Friday night. We'll meet at the park. I'll bring the fireworks and the matches." He said. The others all grinned. Of course there was always the possibility that they would get caught, but what the heck, it WAS FIREWORKS.

Kyle went back to his Dad's desk with his soda and sat down. The others waited a full five minutes before they snuck back in and went about their business. After a couple of hours, Jess went up to her Daddy's desk. "Daddy, can Maddie have a sleepover on Friday night? Please!" she said with her bottom lip stuck out.

"I don't know sweetie. I'd have to talk to Mom." Tim said. "She's not feeling that well, we have to see if she feels up to it."

"I'll be real good Uncle Tim. You won't even know I'm there." She said with a grin. Tim rolled his eyes and picked up the phone to call Abby.

"Hey Abs. I have to little girls here, begging for Maddie to be able to sleep over on Friday night...Do you think that'd be ok?... Are you sure you're up to it? ...Thanks Abs...Yeah good idea." He hung up the phone and turned to the excited little girls. "Mom said yes. And she also said that Toby can stay as well. Why don't you two go and find Dyl and tell him." Tim said. The girls ran off holding hands chattering quietly none stop all the way. Tim smiled. They really were adorable together.

The girls found Dyl back in the break room again drawing on the big table. "We asked if Maddie could stay on Friday and Dad said that Toby can stay as well." Jess said.

"Yesss!" Dyl said enthusiastically. He went to ask his Dad if he cold call Toby. This was gonna be a piece of cake. They just had to hope that the folks turned in early. Still, they usually did once they were sure everyone was asleep. That would have to be the plan, to pretend to be out like a light really they'd have to go out the front door because if they went out the back door the dogs would bark. And he'd have to find a way to make sure the girls were quiet. They wouldn't hust have to be quiet, they were going to have to be virtually silent. Maybe they should put all their shoes out the front ready. No. It wasn't cold. Maybe they shpould just go without shoes. It would be quieter in the house when they were trying to leave. Dyl smiled to him self, he had never been more excited. He had been to firework displays, but this was different. They were going to be in charge of there own special display. Dyl really could not wait. Friday seemed like a million years away. Bringing himself back to the present, Dyl raced off to speak to his Dad about inviting Toby. His Dad had leant him his phone and he had brought it into the break room to make the call. When Michael answered straight away. Dyl grinned.

"Guess What?" he said.

TBC


	90. Chapter 90

Thankyou all for your reviews and alerts. i appreciate them all and I love to know what you're thinking. I hope you like this chapter :)

Thanks again to Maudlin Muse who helped me with some ideas :)

Chapter 90

As Dyl explained the plans to Toby he could almost feel his friend's excitement through the phone. He waited while Toby went and asked his Mom if it was ok for him to sleep over. Dyl held his breath while he waited for the answer. Toby came back just as excited. "She said I can." Dyl yelped with excitement but tried hard to keep it under control. It was supposed to be just an ordinary sleepover after all.

The next couple of days passed without incident. Even Kyle settled down. He didn't want to risk anything going wrong with Friday night. He couldn't resist though, when everyone had gone to bed on Thursday night, climbing into the closet with a torch to have a look at the fireworks properly. Matches were gonna be their next problem he thought. No good having fireworks with out having something to light them with. Then idea dawned on him. His Dad had a box of cigars in the living room. He'd never seen him smoke them, they were for company. Some kind of company he'd never seen but still, he'd bet there were some matches lying around to light them with. He covered up all the fireworks and wrapped the whole lot in a couple of jackets and hid them as well as he could, turned off the torch and opened his door a crack and listened. Silence. He crept out his door and down the stairs and then over to the cabinet where his Dad kept the cigars. He couldn't see matches but then saw a lighter. He grabbed it up quickly and shoved it into his slipper, just in case. And just as well because as he turned around he ran into his Dad.

"What are you doing?" his Dad asked.

"Um...I..." Kyle was wracking his brain for an answer.

"Were you about to sneak the TV on?"

"Um yeah...sorry Dad. I just ...I was having withdrawals. Kind of like Aunt Abby with the Caf-Pow." He said. He knew he'd probably cop it again for being a smart ass, but he needed the distraction and he wouldn't get it nearly as bad as he would for pocketing the lighter. Tony spun him around and gave him several stinging smacks as he marched him back up the stairs. He propelled him through the doorway and over to his bed. Kyle held his breath in case the lighter fell out of his slipper. Thankfully, Tony stopped when he got to the bed and with one more stinging smack told him to get into bed.

"I need to go to the bathroom." Kyle said with teary eyes.

"Go on." Tony said and sat on the bed to wait for him. Kyle did his best to not look suspicious and hurried off to the bathroom. After shutting the door and locking it, he grabbed the lighter out of his slipper and looked around desperately for somewhere to put it. He sighed at his only choice but decided to take a risk, He pulled out his pyjamas and wedged the lighter in the band of his underwear at the side and pulled his pyjama top down to cover his pants. He blew out a nervous breath. Kyle flushed the toilet and opened the door. "Right. Hop in and don't let me catch you out of that bed again. Or else." His Dad said. Kyle scrambled into bed and breathed deeply as his Dad pulled the covers up to his neck and kissed the top of his head. "I love you Kyle." He said.

"I love you too Dad." Kyle said back. His Dad walked out of the room quietly and shut the door. Kyle lay there with his hand over the lighter, waiting for his Dad's door to close, then he jumped up and opened his closet and put the lighter in the same bag as the fireworks. Covered them all up and then closed the door and hopped back into bed. He turned over onto his side so his bottom wouldn't hurt so much. He sighed. As soon as it was starting to feel a little better someone started whacking it again. He hoped like hell that he wouldn't get caught with the fireworks but, it was a risk he was willing to take. It was for FIREWORKS. And some pretty spectacular ones too.

The next morning, Kyle jumped out of bed and went to check his closet. Still there. He was almost convinced that it had all been a dream. But nope. There they all were, the lighter too. And no more waiting. The day was finally here. Right. Now, his top priority had to be to tell Michael of his plans. He wasn't gonna pressure him into anything. Just tell him the facts and let him decide for himself.

Michael was just opening his eyes when his bedroom door creaked open. He was torn. He was pleased to see Kyle. He was his brother and his best friend. But his visit was very likely to bring trouble with it. It usually did. Oh well, he thought. That was Kyle and like he'd told his Mom. Kyle was his brother.

"Hey." Michael said.

"Hey Mike." Kyle said, unable to keep the grin to himself. "I've got something to tell you and I want you to listen to all of it before you either get mad or make a decision. Promise?" Michael gave a brief nod. "The other night, when I bought the book report, I bought something else too. Now I know it was wrong, and I know that Dad'll be mad when he finds out but it's already done. We may as well enjoy it. I'm gonna catch it anyway, may as well make it worth while. I didn't tell you until this morning because I didn't want you too involved. I don't want you to get in trouble because of me. If you decide you want to, me and Dyl and Toby and the girls are gonna sneak out and meet at the park to let them off. If you wanna join us that'd be great, but if you don't that's fine too. I won't even blame you if you go and tell. It's up to you." Kyle watched his brother's face. He had meant every word but he hoped that he would decide to go with them. He was his best friend and it wouldn't be the same without him. Michael's face suddenly lit up.

"Are you kidding me? It's FIREWORKS! I'm in." he said and the two jumped around the room excitedly. "Can I see them?"

"Better wait until tonight. If we get caught we'll get in trouble and we won't get to see them lit." Kyle said.

That afternoon after school, Abby took an early afternoon, so that she could pick all the kids up from school and ferry them back to their house. They had already exchanged clothes and stuff in the morning. She would have gladly taken Kyle and Michael too but they were both still grounded. They pretended to have sad faces when Abby dropped them off at NCIS. That was hard work because they were nearly beside themselves with excitement. Their plan was similar to the other kids. Dinner and bed early and hope to God that their Mom and Dad would turn in early as well. They usually watched television in bed if the kids were in bed.

At Abby and Tim's house the kids were the best behaved that they had ever been. The four of them played quietly together in Dyl's room and she hardly heard a peep out of them. Now normally Abby's Mommy antenna would be picking up signals, but she was still so tired that she gratefully retired to the kitchen to make dinner in the hope that the behaviour would last and she would be able to get an early night. She would anyway, because Timmy would watch them, but it'd be even better if Tim could have an early night with her.

Upstairs in Dyl's room, the four kids were fine tuning their plans for later that evening. They knew that dinner was already underway, so the plan was that they would eat and yawn and yawn some more and then ask if they could go to bed early. They all had clothes laid out under the beds and they'd hidden flip flops for the girls and sneakers for the boys well inside one of the bushes out the front. They were all set.

There wasn't much happening at work and Tim was worried about leaving Abby too long on her own with all the kids when she wasn't feeling the greatest so he got home early. As he came through the house, he found all the kids in the kitchen with Abby. He kissed her first and then ruffled all the kids hair. "What's happening?" he asked.

"We're starving!" Dyl said. The other kids all nodded.

"And tired." Jess said. Tim looked at Abby and she shrugged.

"Dinner's already ready. It's ok with me if it's not to early for you." She said.

"What about Sarah?" he asked.

"She's out tonight. Won't be back until really late. They're going to dinner and a movie." Abby said. "I'm really tired. Why don't we just eat and then the kids can go in their rooms and we can go lie down and watch television in bed." Tim nodded.

"Sounds like a plan to me guys! What do you think?" Tim said.

"Yay." Dyl said.

After dinner was over the kids all headed up the stairs to the bedrooms. Tim frowned.

"Have I just dropped into an alternative universe?" he said.

"Mmmm it's a bit like that but let's not look a gift horse in the mouth hey Timmy? They probably just want to tell ghost stories or something." Abby said. That sounded feasible to Tim.

"Why don't you go and do what you have to do and I'll be up as soon as I've cleaned this lot up." He said. He looked at the kitchen clock. 6:30 pm. He couldn't believe that everyone in the house was ready for bed at 6:30 pm. Including the adults. By the time Tim cleaned up it was 7:00 pm. He walked up the stairs and half expected to hear the sounds of a pillow fight or a wrestling match or something similar, but there was nothing. Silence. He opened Jess's door first. The girls were fast asleep. Both of them. Next he went along to Dyl's room. He opened the door quietly and his mouth dropped open. Them too. God he hoped these kids weren't all coming down with something. Being asleep on a Friday night at 7:00 was unheard of. Still he wasn't about to wake them up and ask why. He closed the door again and headed to his own room. A night with Abs in his arms sounded perfect. He suddenly found himself tired as well.

Over at the Dinozzo household there had been a similar set up. Ziva had given up early and served dinner early to quiet the boys as they constantly complained of hunger. As soon as dinner was over they both opted for their beds. Tony was a bit suspicious, but when he checked them at 7:00 and they were both asleep, what could he do but accept and enjoy the situation. He and Ziva turned in for a movie night in the bedroom. They both should have been suspicious also, but decided to enjoy their days it was quite rare for them to have an evening to themselves.

At 7:45pm, the coast was clear at both houses and the six children crept down the stairs and out of their respective house unnoticed. Fifteen minutes later and they met each other in the local park. Excitement painted all over their young faces. Kyle dropped his backpack and opened it. All six sets of wide eyes were peering eagerly into the bag waiting for the wonder they were about to behold. He spread his jacket on the ground and pulled the plastic package out and shook the brightly coloured multi shaped contents onto it. The kids all gasped.

"WOW!" Dyl and Toby said together. Michael was speechless. He hated to think what he must have spent to get this much. The girls started pouring through them picking out the prettiest packages. The boys were all looking for the loudest or the ones that would shoot the highest into the air. Kyle decided that he better take charge before it got too late and they didn't get to let any off.

"Right. Everyone pick their first one." He said. The first one picked is the first one lit." Dyl grabbed a rocket and passed it to Kyle. "Good choice Dyl." Kyle said as he walked away from the group and stuck the rocket on the ground. He lit the fuse and ran back to where the others were. They all clung together and protected the little girls as they watched the rocket soar into the sky bursting into beautiful sprays of colour as it reached the sky. The kids were mesmerised. Toby passed his over next. He'd chosen a mighty rattler that was in a sort of brightly coloured box. Once again, Kyle took the box over, lit the fuse and ran back. They all watched again in wonder as sparks flew high into the air making loud popping noises each time another burst, spat fiery sparks into the air. When it had finished Kyle turned to the girls.

Maddie?" he said. She bent down and picked a little cylinder that was decorated with pretty looking flowers. Kyle took it over to the spot and once again lit the fuse. Just as he joined the others, hundreds of multi coloured sprays of light kept bursting from the little container bringing oohs and aahs from the very impressed little girls. They already looked up to the older boys with their cool long hair and cheekiness. But now they looked at them with complete adoration. They had never experienced a night like this ever. Jess already had her choice in her hand. Surprise, it was the same as Maddie's but the boys didn't mind. Kyle jogged over and lit the fuse and jogged back and they oohed and aahed along with the girls as the sky was once again alight with colour. Didn't hurt to humour them a little did it Kyle thought.

"Ok Mike. Your choice." Michael bent down and rummaged a little before coming up with another rocket. "You know what? I'm gonna pick a rocket too and we'll set them off together. From now on we'll light them in pairs. We can't risk staying here too long." He picked his rocket and ran over to light them together. He had to be quick as the first fuse had already started to burn as he was lighting the second. But he made it. This time they were truly in awe at the spectacular sight of the rockets going off together. The fact that one was just slightly behind the other just added to the effect as one popped and rained its coloured sparkles down right behind the other. Toby and Dyl passed Kyle two different kinds this time and he wasn't sure. "Maybe you should pick the same." He said. "Then on your next turn you can do two of the other kind." The two boys looked at each other and shrugged.

After a brief discussion, Dyl handed Kyle two Silver Jets. They were spinners. They were gonna spin around really fast scattering sparks around their vicinity. Kyle shrugged. He didn't care he loved them all. He carried them over and put them side by side and lit one and then the other, but before he could get out of the way, they started spinning. This gave him an almighty scare and he fell over and knocked one of them with his arm. This threw the whole thing off kilter and they spun wildly. They banged into each other and one skittled across the ground a bit like a spinning top that had hit another object. The kids stood frozen to the spot staring in horror as Kyle clutched his arm. None of them even noticed as one of the spinning wheels still sprouting sparks jumped a little. It was too late to move before it landed on Maddie's flip flop clad foot.

Not a sound could be heard in the pitch dark park except for the blood curdling scream from Maddie.

TBC


	91. Chapter 91

Ok! Firstly I'd like to thank everyone for their reviews. I love to read them and it helps to get feedback. Secondly, I'm really sorry that it's taken sooo long for this update. There was a lot of reasons, which are all pretty boring so I won't bother to go into them. I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's long, so you might wanna make a coffee :)

Once again, I'd like to thank Maudlin Muse who helped me alot with this story line. You're great! :)

Chapter 91

All the kids rushed over to Maddie at once almost knocking each other over in the process. It would have been comical if it wasn't for the dire straits they found themselves in. Maddie was absolutely screaming and none of them were sure how badly she'd been hurt or what to do about it. Jess was hysterical, almost as hysterical as Maddie, Dyl was doing his best to comfort her and she clung to him desperately.

Kyle was frozen with both fear and pain. His arm hurt. This was all down to him, he made this mess and he had to fix it but he didn't know how. Everyone was shouting or crying and he couldn't think. There was soooo much noise. He was stunned when Michael took his cell phone out of his pocket and opened it. His Dad had given them each one in case of an emergency. And as far as Michael could see this WAS an emergency.

Kyle suddenly came back to his senses. "No Mike. We can't. We'll figure something out. I put some band aids in here somewhere." he said starting to rummage through his back pack. Michael shook his head.

"Kyle shut up and see if Maddie's ok. It's over. We need adults, Maddie could be seriously hurt." He said as he kept dialling for help. First he dialled for paramedics and then when he hung up, he took a big breath and dialled his Dad.

Within what seemed like hours but what probably was more like ten minutes or so, the park was crawling with adults. Paramedics, some neighbours from nearby houses who had come to either see what they could do to help or just to snoop and of course all their parents. Even Zac and Sarah had stopped on their way past the park to see what all the commotion was about.

Tim was cradling a still crying but less hysterical Jess while at the same time keeping a keen an eye on Dyl and Abby who was unusually quiet and literally as white as a sheet. Dyl and Toby were standing side by side next to Abby and to Toby's parents. Both were looking shame faced and neither was saying a word.

Now that his parents were here and Dyl didn't have to be so concerned with the state his sister was in, he was getting really worried about what was gonna happen to him. He was in big trouble. So much trouble that no one had even yelled at him yet. He would have thought that his Mom or his Dad or even Gibbs would have said something to all of them by now. Loudly. But nothing. That was scarier than anything else. Similar thoughts were crossing Toby's mind. He'd tried to look at his Mom but she was mad, really mad and looking at her made him feel worse not better.

Michael had drifted away from the group and was sitting under a tree by himself. Every now and then he would angrily scrub away a stray tear. He was angrier at himself than anyone else. Ziva and Tony were both beside themselves, their minds flitting between worry, guilt and anger. Kyle was sitting in the ambulance being treated for minor burns. His arm had only had minimal contact with the fireworks, but it still needed to be dressed and he would need to see a doctor the following day for the bandage to be changed and to start a course of antibiotics.

The paramedics were still trying to determine the extent of Maddie's injuries. She was suffering from shock, the hysterical crying had stopped but now she was very pale and limp which was worse. The fact that she was young meant that she was probably going to have to be sedated before any proper treatment could be of course the shock was bad enough to prevent that. Kim was in the ambulance soothing Maddie as best she could. Hoping for once she would just throw one of her famous tantrums. Silence like this coming from Maddie was extremely unnerving.

Gibbs was pacing. He kept poking his head inside the ambulance to check on Maddie. Every time he appeared, Kyle lowered his gaze. He just couldn't make eye contact with this man who was so worried about his daughter. Gibbs just couldn't settle anywhere. There was no room for him in the ambulance and Maddie needed her Mommy. There'd be time for him to sit with her when they got to the hospital. He was definitely anything but a panic merchant but his mind had gone into overdrive at the thought of how bad this could have been. He felt terrible every time he looked at Kyle and the child shrunk back with fear. But he was pissed. Really pissed. At the situation. At the kids, damn it at all of THEM, the adults, for not seeing what a set up this had been. They were investigators. They should have seen this coming. They had been out witted by a bunch of little kids.

Finally the ambulance closed its doors and pulled away taking Maddie and her Mom with it. After having a quick word to Tim and Tony, Gibbs shot off to get his car so that he could follow Kim and Maddie to the hospital. The others all milled around, no one really knowing what to say. Tony and Ziva felt terrible that it had been their son that had instigated all this mayhem, and that Maddie had been hurt by it.

"Tim, Abby, We're sooo sorry." Tony said and turning to Toby's parents he repeated himself. "I don't know what I can say. I'm sooo sorry." He looked around for Ziva's usual support but found her walking away, well not away but towards their two boys who were sitting forlornly under the tree...all alone.

Kyle had gone to comfort his brother and maybe to take some comfort for himself as well. But Michael wasn't talking or moving. He was just sitting, tears streaming down his sad little face. Ziva nudged Kyle over and squished herself down between them, wrapping an arm around each of them.

She blew out a loud breath. "It has been quite an evening yes?" she asked. Kyle nodded. Michael still just sat there, unable to control his tears or the terrible guilt that was eating him up inside. Maddie, a little girl who looked up to them had been hurt. Because of them. Because of him. Michael knew what Kyle was like. He didn't think. He never thought about what could happen. That was him. He hadn't suddenly changed. Michael knew that. He knew that it had always been his job to think, to stop Kyle when he was going too far. Why didn't he just tell. Tell him to stop, tell him it wasn't safe, tell his Dad or his Mom. This was the last time, the very last time that he would go along with one of his wild schemes. He loved his brother but he was done. Done covering for him.

Abby felt numb. They had really fucked up. There was no other word for it. They had their own kids and two other kids belonging to friends and they didn't watch any of them properly. They had slept while four little kids had snuck out of the house under their very noses. Not to mention that the whole sleepover thing had been a set up. Why hadn't they seen THAT coming. Now Maddie, who had been in their care, was on her way to the hospital, because of their negligence. Gibbs and Kim would probably never forgive them. Not to mention Toby's involvement in all this. Abby didn't even dare to look sideways at Toby's parents. Yet again, while Toby had been with them, something bad had happened. No wonder they weren't even looking her direction.

Toby's parents didn't look at Abby either, although they were all standing so close. But it wasn't for the reason that Abby thought it was. They were embarrassed. Actually, embarrassed didn't even begin to cover what they were feeling about Toby doing this. Both he and Dylan were old enough to know better. Tim and Abby were good enough to invite him to sleep over and he repays them by sneaking out of the house with Dyl, even letting the little girls go with them. They were so ashamed.

Tim felt terrible too. He should have known when he'd check on them that last time that they were all faking it. They'd done a good job though. He really believed that they were all asleep. Still, what they had to concentrate on right now was what they were gonna do about all this mess. Looking around at all the disturbed faces, Tim knew they couldn't just go home now. They needed to do something about this tonight. Whoever had something to say needed the chance to say it before this just festered and friendships were ruined. And they needed the full story. They didn't even know where the fireworks had come from or he didn't at least. But he had a pretty good idea.

Tony interrupted Tim's thoughts. "Hey Tim... I don't know what to say." He said.

"Just a second." He said and went and passed Jess over to Sarah and Zac, who were now sitting on the ground, before going back to finish his conversation with Tony.

Tim gave his friend a slight smile. "This is not your fault." He said. "They're kids."

"It was Kyle. Michael told me on the phone." Tony said guiltily. "He bought the fireworks on line the same night he bought the test. With my credit card."

"Tony, I still say. Not your fault. It was an accident. One that shouldn't have happened admittedly, but he's a kid and he made a mistake. One I'm sure he'll remember for a long time." Tim said.

"I don't suppose Gibbs is gonna see it that way." Tony said. "God I hope Maddie's ok and she's not in too much pain."

"You know what, I think we should all go back to my house. We'll sit the kids down with all the adults and we'll try and sort out exactly how this all happened. Then we'll send the kids to bed and we can figure out what we're gonna do about it. Tony nodded.

Tim went across to Abby and told her what he was thinking. She agreed immediately. She was exhausted but she knew there'd be no sleep until they had this at least somewhat sorted. They needed to clear the air. They both crossed to where Toby's parents were standing and Abby spoke quietly, while Tim led the boys away.

"Look, Jane, Rich, I wouldn't blame you if you never wanted to speak to us again, or let Toby play with Dyl, but we'd like you to come back to our house for a while so that we can all talk. Clear the air." Abby said in a shaky voice with tears in her eyes.

"Abby, why wouldn't we want to talk to YOU again?" Jane said nervously.

"Um... because the kids snuck out when we were supposed to be watching them. Well Toby..." she started.

"Abby, you thought they were asleep. Toby did the wrong thing. We don't blame you." She said. Rich nodded in agreement.

"We're sorry Abby. You didn't need all this." He said. She smiled.

"That's why we need to clear the air. Will you come?" Abby said.

"We'd love to." Jane said.

Abby then walked over to wear Ziva was sitting under the tree with the twins. "Hey, are you all alright?" she asked.

"We are fine." Ziva said, but she nodded her head in Michael's direction, that told Abby that she didn't in fact think that Michael was alright.

"Well, everyone is gonna come back to our house and talk. Clear the air. Find out what happened." She said. Ziva smiled. Kyle went quiet and looked down. Abby touched Ziva's leg and her eyes went to Michael. Catching her drift, Ziva stood pulling Michael up with her at the same time. She didn't talk to him straight away but instead wrapped him in a big hug before leading him away towards Tony and the others.

Abby put her hand out to Kyle. He didn't take it at first so she lowered it so that it was definitely within his line of vision. Kyle was forced to look up.

"Come on." Abby said. "We're all going back to our house." Kyle shook his head.

"I'm gonna stay here." He said. Abby almost smiled. It wasn't funny, there was nothing remotely funny about any of this, but it was just like a kid to think they could just sit here and the trouble they were in would all go away.

"What forever?" Abby asked. Kyle shrugged. Ok so it was a stupid statement, but it was the best he could come up with at short notice. Hell it was gonna be bad enough facing his own Mom and Dad, let alone half the the freakin pissed off neighbourhood.

"Dunno." He said. Abby tapped him none too gently on his leg.

"Come on. You don't have a choice. If I tell your Dad I told you to come with me and you didn't...not gonna help your case much. AT ALL." Kyle sighed heavily and stood up. Abby slipped her arm around him loosely. "Kyle what you did was not one of your brightest or finest moments, but...in the end, it'll be ok. Do you know how I know that?" she asked. He shrugged again. "Because you're talking to the worlds greatest authority on getting into trouble from doing dumb stuff."

"Really?" he said.

"Yep. And I'll tell you something for free. You need to own up to what you've done. To everyone, including yourself. And accept the consequences." She said as she nudged him and put out her hand again. "And in your case, learn to do A LOT of stuff standing up, cause man are you gonna get SPANKED big time." Kyle finally took Abby's hand.

"Thanks Aunt Abby." He said. He actually felt a little better. Her revelation about the spanking was no revelation to him. That was the least of his worries. Kyle's biggest fear was that Maddie would be horribly scarred and that nothing would ever be the same as it was.

At the hospital, Gibbs and Kim stood by Maddie's bedside waiting while the doctors and nurses did their jobs. Gibbs held her still while a cannular was placed in her hand for the drip, while Kim stood ready to hold the oxygen mask in place. Neither was really necessary but both of them felt like they should do something. As Maddie was in shock, she was still fairly unresponsive to pain. The doctor explained that as the shock wore off, the pain would be more obvious so they were going to give mild analgesics through the drip. He said if it warranted it, they would be able to give her something stronger as her body came out of shock. An antibiotic would also be given through the drip. The burn itself had been flushed and treated with a special bandage that was impregnated with silver. Once Maddie was well enough to go home, she would have to have these dressings changed everyday until the wound was healed. For now though, the plan was for her to remain in the ICU. They would reassess this in the morning.

"Perhaps one of you would like to stay and the other go home and rest, and you could change over tomorrow." The Doctor said. Gibbs and Kim looked at each other and both shook their heads.

"We'll both stay." Gibbs said. The Doctor nodded and left. Kim looked at her little girl in the large bed, oxygen mask over face and the drip tubes feeding all kinds of substances through her tiny hand and into her body. Her mind was reeling at the enormous bandage on her foot that held God knows what underneath. It was finally too much for Kim she turned into Jethro's arms and sobbed. He held on to her tightly, glad for the warmth and comfort, his own eyes filled with tears at his little Maddie.

At Tim and Abby's, everyone was just settling down in the living room. Tim had passed out bottles of water to all the kids and put on a pot of coffee, insisting that Abby sit herself down and stay put. They were just about to start, if they could figure out where the best place was to start when the front door bell rang. Ziva went to answer it and found it was Ducky, Jimmy and Amber.

"Ducky! Jimmy! Amber!" she said shocked. "How did you..."

"Jethro my dear." Ducky said. "He rang and told me what had happened and he wanted me to come and make sure that everyone was alright. Particularly Abigail and Kyle. He said that Abigail was as white as a sheet and that Kyle had a burn on his arm. He wanted me to check that he wasn't suffering from shock." He said. "Or any of the children or adults really you've all had a terrible fright. I've brought jimmy to hep me."

"And I wouldn't stay home when I realised what had happened." Amber said.

Ziva looked at Tony with tears in her eyes. They both knew what it meant. Everyone did, and it was a great relief. It was Gibbs' way of telling them that although he wasn't there with them, nothing had changed. He was still watching out for them ALL.

"Thanks Ducky." Tim said. "Do you think you could take a look at the kids after we talk to them?" he asked.

"Certainly my dear boy. I'll just make some tea." Ducky said. Jimmy retrieved a couple of chairs for he and Amber.

"Ok. Who wants to start?" Tim said. Kyle raised his hand and looked sheepishly at Jimmy. Oh boy! He thought. Another adult that was gonna be mad at him. He looked at Aunt Abby and she nodded her head.

"The night that I bought the book report, I used my Dad's credit card to buy a mixed pack of fireworks." He said adding quickly. "Sorry Dad." Jimmy closed his eyes and threw his head back at his sudden realisation of his part in all this. It didn't go unnoticed by Tony.

"Where did you have them delivered to and who signed for them?" he asked although he already had a pretty good idea of the answer. Kyle looked at Jimmy and mouthed... "Sorry." Jimmy nodded for him to go on.

"It wasn't his fault but I had them delivered to Jimmy and he signed for them and put them in my backpack."Kyle said.

"And how exactly did you manage to talk him into that?" Ziva asked.

"I lied." Kyle said. "I told him that I'd bought a special surprise for Dad online and I asked him to sign for it and hide it in my backpack when no one was looking."

"Oh Kyle." Jimmy said. "You lied and you used me." Kyle's eyes immediately filled with tears and Jimmy felt like a heel. He felt like giving him a hug and telling him not to worry, but he didn't. The look that Tony was giving him stopped him cold.

"Then what?" Tony said.

"After school when Dyl and Jess and Maddie were at NCIS, I asked Dyl if he wanted to watch the fireworks, but I couldn't get him alone and the girls heard and wanted to come too. I swear I didn't think anyone would get hurt. If I really thought that Maddie was gonna get burned like that I would've thrown them all in the trash. I thought we'd have fun."

"I get that you're sorry son, but you need to stick to the facts for now. You can go and see Ducky and then come straight back. Dyl you can tell what happened next." Tony said. "Stand up." Dyl stood up next to Kyle. "Tim you want to have a go?"

"Yes I do." Tim said fixing Dyl with a stern glare. "When Kyle asked you if you wanted to watch the fireworks what did you say?" Tim asked.

"Um...I can't remember exactly what I said but I was happy. We all were. Even Jess and Maddie." He said.

"Jess, you better stand up too." Tim said. Jess stood so close to Dyl that she was nearly on top of him. "Is that true? Were you happy and excited about the fireworks?" her Daddy asked her. Jess nodded with big fat tears in her eyes.

"Yes that's why we asked if Maddie could sleep over." She said.

"Same." Dyl said. "That's why I asked if Toby could sleep over." Toby nodded.

"Stand up Toby please." Tim said looking at Jane and Rich for approval. He had it in two simple nods.

"Toby when did you find out about the fireworks?" Tim asked.

Toby looked at his Mom hoping she'd save him from this uncomfortable questioning but no such luck. Her look told him to answer. Now. He did.

"On the phone." He said.

"So you already knew what you intended to do when you got here?" Tim asked. He looked at all three intently. "So all the garbage about being starving and needing to eat early and get an early night was all lies?" Tim asked. Dyl thought he'd try and relieve this tense situation with a joke.

"Well I WAS pretty hungry." He said. Before he knew what had hit him he was spun around and smacked. Hard.

"You really think this is the moment to be a smart ass?" his Dad asked. Dyl jammed his lips together in a straight line before another stupid remark had a chance to escape. He shook his head no. "So how did you get out of here?"

"We hid our shoes and flip flops in the hedge." Jess said.

"And then we snuck down to the park and met Kyle and Michael." Toby said.

"Right. Sit." Tim said. Tony stood again.

"Michael." He said. Michael stood up. He still hadn't said anything since he'd made the phone calls. "When did you find out about all this?" Tony said. Ziva watched her son anxiously.

"Um...this morning." He said. "Kyle came into my room and told me about the fireworks. He said he'd kept me out of it because he didn't want me to get in trouble. But that he didn't want me to miss out either if I really wanted to join said he wouldn't even care if I told on him." Tony frowned.

"And what did you tell him?" he asked.

Tears once again rolled down Michael's face and he scrubbed them away with his sleeve. "I'm sooo sorry... I forgot." He said.

"You forgot what Mike?" Tony said. "What you said to him?"

Michael couldn't control his sobs so in the end he just tried to talk through them. "No...no... I... forgot...that...I'm...supposed to ...think...Kyle...never...thinks...I'm...the one...who thinks...and...I didn't." There was not a dry eye among the adults now as Michael just melted into his misery in front of them as he tried to explain. "I...thought...the...fireworks would be...fun...I should...have known...I should...have stopped...him...Maddie's...in...the ...hos...pital...because...of me." he said as he finally broke down into uncontrollable sobs. Tony pulled him into his arms and hugged him. Then tipping his face up so that they could look into his eyes he siad. "Mike, this is no more your fault than anyone else's. You are not responsible for Kyle or Kyle's actions, anymore than he is responsible for yours. Kyle sat white faced with his mouth agape. Had he done this to Mike? He asked himself.

Tim had a quick word to Toby's parents and then turned to the kids. "You kids." he said "Are all grounded for three weeks. All the parents have agreed. That means no television, no movies, no playing outside, no video games, no dessert and no dolls." He said looking at Jess. Dyl looked as though he may open his mouth but closed it again quickly. "There's also not gonna be any Sunday lunch for three weeks. The only time you'll see each other is at school. But as for my kids, any trouble at all during that time and you will get the mother of all spankings. Do you hear me?" Dyl and Jess nodded. Toby's Dad nodded at him, indicating that the same was gonna go for him. "Zac, I was wondering, after Ducky's checked him out, if you would do Jane and Rich a favour and babysit Toby for a while?" Tim asked.

"Sure." He said.

"Can I go with him?" Sarah asked. Jane and Rich both agreed and they took Toby out to see Ducky, and when he was given a clean bill of health they took him to his house. Amber and Jimmy stood up.

"How about we go and put Dyl and Jess to bed?" Jimmy said. "It's the least we can do."

"Thanks Jimmy." Tim said. "That'd be a great help.

"I'll check them over while I'm up there." He said.

That left Michael and Kyle. Michael still clung to his Dad but the sobbing had stopped and his breathing seemed to be more normal.

"You ok?" Tony asked. "You know Mike, what happened to Maddie could have been so much worse if you hadn't have thought to phone for an ambulance and to phone me. So you made a mistake. Now you're grounded, your gonna pay for your mistake." I think Ducky should have a look at you and then if it's ok with Aunt Abby and Uncle Tim you could maybe lay in their bed until it's time to go home." Michael nodded. He really did want to lie down. He felt a little happier but really tired. Ducky checked him over and gave him the all clear, he just needed to sleep so Ziva took him up to Abby and Tim's bedroom.

And then there was one. THAT one had never been more nervous. Tony looked at Kyle carefully. " I think we better have our talk in private. Don't you?" he asked. Kyle gulped and nodded.

"Tomorrow would be just fine with me." He said.

"Nice try." Tony said. He looked at Tim.

"Sarah's room's free for the moment." He said. Tony started walking up the stairs.

"With me." He said. Kyle sighed and followed slowly like a man being led to the gallows. When they got to Sarah's room Tony sat on the bed and crooked his finger to Kyle. "I'm not gonna lecture you Kyle. You know what you did wrong. So help me you better start thinking before you do things.

"I will Dad. I'm sorry. I never wanted Maddie to get hurt." He said.

"I KNOW that Kyle. That's why you have to think about what COULD happen sometimes." Tony said. Kyle nodded. "You should have told me what else you'd used the card for when you got caught the first time."

"I know that now." Kyle said.

"Kyle, you knew it then. It just didn't suit you to tell me. From now on you better try harder to do the right thing." Tony said.

"I will Dad. Can I see Maddie at the hospital? I just wanna tell her I'm sorry." He said.

"Yeah sure." Tony said. "Gibbs wants to have a word to you anyway." Kyle's eyes got huge and his mouth opened in shock but before he could process what that meant he found himself over his Dad's knee with his pants around his knees. Tony spanked him hard and fast, hardly giving him time to catch his breath. He tried hard not to yell out, embarrassed to be spanked in someone else house, but after the tenth smack he couldn't hold his tears any longer and he cried pitifully into his Dad's leg. But Tony kept spanking once again setting his backside on fire. By the time he was finished Kyle was a wet sobbing mess. But it wasn't only the spanking that had made him cry, it was toll that this terrible day had taken on him. At least now it was all partly over. As he stood up and righted his pants he threw his arms around his Dad's neck.

"I really ...am...sorry...Dad. I'll...try...harder." he said and he meant it.

"I love you Kyle." Tony said.

After settling Kyle on Sarah's bed with a throw rug and kissing his head, Tony went down stairs to join the others. Kyle lay on his tummy with his eyes wide open wondering what the hell Gibbs was gonna do to him.

TBC


	92. Chapter 92

Thankyou all for your reviews and alerts. I do appreciate them all and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 92

By the time Tony got back downstairs, the others were sitting waiting for him. He took a big breath. God he hoped they could all come back from this. You could cut the air with a knife. This just wasn't the atmosphere that this house usually had. It was tense and sad and...not funny. He had always been able to see the funny side of things in this house. The mischief that the McBrat's had always got into and even Abby. Abby's antics always amused him. That and Tim's reaction to them. It always had him laughing for days, everytime he recalled a particular incident. Jeez, he thought. Will they ever look back on this and laugh?

"Tony, I was just gonna ask did anyone have anything that they wanted to say." Tim said. Everyone either shook their heads slightly or looked down.

"Come onnnn!" Tony said. "Someone must have somethin to say...let me have it...please." He actually thought it might make him feel a little better if someone were to say something about it being his fault. Anything. He knew what they were all thinking. Why wouldn't SOMEONE say it out loud.

"I'd like to say something." Jimmy said.

"Floors all yours Jimmy." Tony said gratefully. He sat close with his arms folded waiting for Jimmy to rip into him.

"I just want to say that I'm sorry that I signed for the package without checking first what was inside it. It's true that Kyle lied, but he's eleven. I'm the adult and I should have checked. There were lots of clues. I knew that he'd been in trouble for using your credit card, when I asked him what the gift was and he hedged, I should have insisted he tell me. When he told me that he'd saved his money, it should have dawned on me that you can't buy things online with cash." Jimmy looked at Tony and then at Ziva and then everyone else. "He did the wrong thing, we all know that, but if I had been more on the ball, there wouldn't have been any fireworks to TAKE to the park, so I have to accept my share of the responsibility here." Tony was speechless. It hadn't been what he expected to hear or what he wanted to hear but it had been great to hear all the same. Ziva came over and gave Jimmy a hug the others all thanked him as well for his sincerity.

Next Abby stood up. "I've got something to say." She said. "Look I think we have to remember that these are just kids. Kids stuff up. That's what they do. Now if I could tell you some things that I got up to when I was a kid..." she looked at all the faces and made herself focus on what she was trying to say. "There's been a lot of mistakes made here." She said gesturing with her hands. "Kyle shouldn't have taken your credit card." She said to Tony. "And he shouldn't have bought the fireworks in the first place or had them sent to Jimmy." she said looking at Jimmy. "Or lied to Jimmy. Jimmy should have checked and when Kyle told all of the kids, they should have said NO. And ALL of them should have told one of us. They certainly shouldn't have snuck out of the house the way they did. And, they shouldn't have been able too. If I hadn't have been pregnant, I never would have been in bed at that time."

"What I'm saying is, there were mistakes made. But you can't expect kids to imagine something that they would never imagine in their wildest dreams. Like the possibility of someone getting badly hurt. They just don't think like that. There was no malice there. They'll all learn something from this. And so will we. There wasn't anyone in this room that didn't contribute in some way ...well except for Amber...and Ducky...and Jane ...and Rich didn't do anything...well except for letting their son stay over night, but that wasn't wrong because we asked him and then we didn't watch him properly, so...not you two...so it was the five of us but we're all human..."

"I think we get the picture Abs." Tim said smiling proudly. Abby smiled and went and sat down again. "Anyone else?"

Rich stood up. "I just wanna say that we don't blame anyone. Toby knows the difference between right and wrong and he made his own choice. No hard feelings here." He said. "And Tim and Abby, we're really sorry that he acted that way while he was staying with you. We expect more from him than that." Tony and Ziva were both starting to feel a little better.

"I just hope that Maddie is alright." Ziva said. Ducky came into the room holding up his cell.

"Jethro." He said. He's asked that I put it on the speaker thing." He said smiling. Everyone normally would have chuckled at that but they were all too nervous. There was silence as Gibbs voice and then Kim's could be heard through he phone.

"Maddie is improving and they expect she'll be in a normal ward by tomorrow and possibly even allowed to go home by tomorrow afternoon." Gibbs said.

"Hi everyone." Kim said happily. "Are you ok Abby? I've been worried about you."

"I'm fine." Abby said in a husky voice. "I'm sooo sorry Kim."

"Abby it wasn't your fault." Kim said. "They were very naughty to sneak out. I don't expect you to sit next to her bed all night."

"Boss I'm so sorry." Tony said. "Kim you too." Gibbs shook his head at Kim. He knew that they would have been worried.

"Not your fault either. The kids messed up and there was an accident. Now that we know that Maddie's gonna be ok, I can put things more into perspective." He said.

"But Boss, Kyle..." Tony started again.

"Dinozzo! You really think we're gonna hold a grudge against an eleven year old kid?" he said.

"I guess not." Tony said feeling like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. "But still boss, he..."

"He messed up. HE messed up. Not you. And so did Maddie herself and all the others, but Kyle Tony, as I told you before, I wanna have a word to Kyle myself. Clear the air. He's scared of me. I would like him to respect me not fear me. Time we got to know each other a little better." He said.

"Sure Boss." Tony said. "He wanted to come and apologise to Maddie anyway."

"Well good. Then I'll have a chat to him about a few things." He said. "Anything you'd like me to talk to him about Tony?"

"Maybe." Tony said.

"Your choice. But I am gonna talk to him about fireworks. We were lucky that this didn't turn out worse. He was the one lighting them. He could have lost an eye with one of those rockets." He said.

"Yeah I know." Tony said feeling a fresh wave of nausea at the thought. "Yeah. Might be a good idea for you to have a word Boss." After a few more pleasantries they hung up and all of a sudden there was a different mood in the room. Maddie was gonna be fine and Gibbs still loved them all and Kim was still Abby's friend so everything was right once again with their world.

"Whose for pizza?" Tony said. "I could eat a horse." Everyone started to chuckle at first but then started to realise that they were indeed hungry themselves.

As she went to the kitchen to get supplies, Abby noticed a little forlorn blonde haired figure sitting at the top of the stairs.

"Honey! You ok? She asked. Jess nodded slowly.

"Is Maddie ok?" she asked.

"Maddie is much better and she might even be able to go home tomorrow." Abby said. Jess gave a half smile.

"I'm gonna miss her." she said. "She's my bestest friend in the whole world."

"I know she is Jess. And you're very lucky to have her." Abby said smiling. Jess nodded. "Time for you to be in bed now sweetie. Come on." And she took her hand and led her back to bed.

By the time the pizza had arrived they were actually all laughing again and it was music to Tony's ears. It was true that they weren't laughing about this particular incident but they were laughing. It was good to have Toby's folks there. Fresh blood. They were able to fill them in on a lot of the McGee family antics, like the time that Abby had whacked McGee with the canoe oar and Ziva had filmed it. Or the ill fated game of Pictionary. The camping trip. By the time Tony had relayed the entire story of the beauty pageant, Jane and Rich were nearly choking. It was such a relief that the bleakness had finally lifted and that the warm comfortable familiar feeling had returned.

Tim looked over at the space where he'd last seen Abby on the sofa and smiled. Amongst all the noise and reminiscing and laughter, his life of the party wife had fallen a sleep and slumped behind Ziva, who had been trying to get Tim's attention for the last five minutes.

"Tony!" Ziva said in a loud whisper as she pointed to Abby.

"Oh right." Tony said. "We should really get going."

"We'll probably see you at the hospital tomorrow." Tim said. "I know we said they shouldn't see each other for three weeks but, Jess needs to see that Maddie's ok. And I think that Dyl should say sorry too."

"Yep. Our boys will be doing the same thing." Tony said. "I'll see you there. And Tim, thanks for this. It helped more than you'll ever know."

Tim patted his shoulder. "For me too. Not so funny from the other side is it?" he said with a small smile.

"Nope. It sure isn't. I never realised how responsible I'd feel for my children's actions." Tony said. Tim nodded.

"Come on, I'll give you a hand with the boys." Tim said. The others all drifted off as well and Tim finally carried Abby up to bed.

The next day later in the morning, the McGee's and the Dinozzo's all met up at the hospital. Tony and Ziva took Kyle and Michael in first and Dyl and Jess waited outside with their Mom and Dad.

The boys looked sheepish to say the least as they slowly entered Maddie's room. Their eyes went from the drip in her hand down to the bandage on her foot. Michael was the first to speak.

"I'm really sorry that you got hurt Maddie." He said. "Does it hurt?"

"A bit." She said. "But they give me medicine."

"Oh that's good." Tony gave Kyle a nudge.

"I'm sorry Maddie. I didn't know you'd get hurt. Honest." He said. "I bought you these." He produced a small posy of flowers that he'd purchased from the gift shop. Ok, so it had been his Dad's idea, but he hadn't needed much strong arming and he'd used his own money. And that meant a lot considering he was gonna lose a good slice of his allowance from now until forever until he'd paid for the book report and the fireworks. He was starting to think that it hadn't been worth it. Well it certainly wasn't worth Maddie getting hurt. When he looked over he saw Gibbs. He put his head down, but it was too late. Now he was beside him, he recognised the shoes.

"Let's walk." He said to Kyle. Kyle looked up at his Mom.

"Go with Gibbs Kyle." She said.

AS Gibbs led Kyle down the hallway, Tony and Ziva left Maddie's room so the others could go in and see her. They all took a seat on the group of chairs outside the room.

Jess entered the room first with an enormous smile on her face. Of course it was partially hidden by the bunch of Barbie balloons that she was carrying. Maddie squealed with delight when she saw Jess. And jess was just as over the moon. Anyone would have thought that they'd been separated for months. Then Jess caught sight of the big bandage on Maddie's foot.

"Oh Maddie. Does it hurt?" Jess asked.

"A bit." She said but they give me medicine. That makes it not hurt so much." She said. Jess climbed up on the bed and sat next to Maddie,careful to not get her feet anywhere near her friends sore foot. She rested her head on Maddie's shoulder. And that's where they stayed for the next hour hoding hands and watching a DVD of the little Mermaid.

Gibbs found and empty room and took Kyle in and shut and locked the door.

"So talk to me." Gibbs said. Kyle shrugged. He was scared which made him get defensive.

"Whatcha want me to say." He said. Gibbs didn't bite.

"Let's start with taking your Dad's credit card." Gibbs said.

"That's not your business." He said. "That's between me and my Dad." Gibbs smirked. He was prepared to give him a little leway, but, he wasn't gonna take lip like this from a kid. He wouldn't take it from any of the other kids. No reason that Kyle should be treated any different.

"Your father is like a son to me. That makes me like a grandfather to you. Now would you back chat your grandfather." Gibbs said. Kyle shrugged again.

"Dunno. Never had one before." He said.

"Then let me give you a hint. Not a good idea." He said. "Now let's get back to why you thought it was ok to swipe your Dad's credit card?"

"Um...I didn't think it was ok." He said, and that was the truth.

"And yet you did it anyway." Gibbs said. "WHY?"

"Cos I didn't read the book." Kyle said.

"Why not?" Gibbs said. Kyle shrugged.

"I don't know." He said.

"I think you do." Gibbs said. Kyle's eyes filled with tears. "Say it Kyle."

"I didn't feel like it." He said quietly.

"And." Gibbs pushed.

"And I'd already seen the site and I thought that I wouldn't have to read it if I could buy the report." Kyle said.

"So you planned it." Gibbs said. Kyle nodded.

"But not the fireworks. I was just gonna look at them but then I saw how easy it was and I just did it." he said swiping a tear away from his face.

"And when you got caught with the paper, why didn't you mention that you just happened to 'accidentally' buy fireworks?" he asked.

"Cos it was too late, they were already on there way." Kyle said. "I knew I was gonna catch it, so I thought I may as well have some fun first. But I didn't think that anyone would get hurt. Honest."

"I believe that much." Gibbs said. " Do you know how dangerous what you did was? Not just for Maddie, but Kyle, you could have been burnt to death or lost an eye. Anything could have happened while you were lighting those fireworks. To you or to one of the other kids."

"I didn't think." He said.

"Well it's time you did. The next time that you're tempted NOT to think? I want you to remember this. You are my family and you don't just answer to your Mom and Dad but you answer to me too." Kyle's mouth dropped open and before he had a chance to think about what was just said, he found himself staring at the floor.

The first smack that landed on his still sore bottom was harder than any smack he'd ever had. He tried not to yell for fear that someone outside the room would hear him. But smack after burning smack kept landing one after the other making it impossible for him to NOT cry. The best that he could do was to bury his face in his hands to try and muffle the noise. As he sobbed, Gibbs' words swirled around his head. 'You are my family.'

When Gibbs finally stopped, neither of them knew what kind of reaction to expect from the other. But as soon as Gibbs held out his arms to Kyle, the chastened boy gratefully fell into them and cried. For Maddie, for the trouble he'd caused,for his parents, for himself, his brother and the others and for the happy fact that for the first time that he could remember, he had a grandfather...sort of."

TBC


	93. Chapter 93

Thank you all again for your wonderful reviews and alerts. I appreciate them all and it makes it so much easier to write when you have feedback. I hope you enjoy this next chapter!

Thankyou again to Maudlin Muse, she again helped me to get my mind straight with a few things :)

Chapter 93

By Saturday night, everyone was back in their own homes again. Even Maddie. They were all taking advantage of the downtime, grateful for the lack of dead marines for the moment. It had been a hell of a few days. Tim and Abby were watching TV in the living room. They knew it was safe to go to their room and relax, but it was gonna take them a while to totally trust the kids again. Both of them felt like they'd dropped the ball and it wasn't about to happen again soon.

Dyl was in his room, and due to the total lack of entertainment now at his disposal, he was forced to do something that he would normally avoid like the plague. Reading on a Saturday. By choice. The interesting thing was, that he was actually enjoying it. Who would have thought, that those boring things with the pages and the words could actually be used as a source of entertainment. So much so that when he went to get a snack and use the bathroom, Dyl hid his book under his pillow for fear his Dad would sense him having fun and confiscate it.

Jess was busying her self with some craft. She was making cards. She had made a few for Maddie already. A get well card, a best friend card and an I miss you card. Now she was starting on some I'm sorry cards for her Mommy and Daddy. She really didn't like it when they were mad at her. And she WAS sorry for what she did but Jess was sad, and she didn't really think that any of this was fair. She was getting punished the most. And she was only little. Today was Saturday, and tomorrow was Sunday and there wasn't gonna be lunch. They were gonna stay here all day with no friends visiting. The next day would be school. Dyl would get to see Toby then. Maddie couldn't go to school cos of her burnt foot, so she wouldn't see her at school on Monday. She wouldn't get to see her AT ALL until she could go to school. Not fair. Even Kyle and Michael get to see each other everyday cos they live together. She and Maddie were the littlest and they got in the most trouble. Not fair at all. Jess wished she was bigger. Then she'd be able to find a way to see Maddie on her own. Only cos it wasn't fair.

At the Dinozzo's, the picture was very similar. Tony and Ziva were in their living room, watching a movie. Michael was in his room reading, although this hadn't come as an epiphany to him. He had always enjoyed reading. At the moment he was in his element, his head buried in a book and his brother not allowed to come in and disturb him. Usually if Kyle caught him reading he would make it is business to distract him. He really believed he was doing him a favour, saving him from a world of book loving nerds. It did kind of occur to him that Mike actually might like to read, but it couldn't be a good thing for an eleven year old boy to like to read.

Kyle was finding it difficult to find a way to amuse himself, he wasn't so desperate YET, that his spirits would dip to the level of actually opening the pages of a book. No there had to be something else to do in this room before he sunk THAT low. He rummaged around in his desk until he came up with a comic. Not bad he thought. Of course it WAS reading material, but fun reading material. Hang on. He didn't really have to even read it to have fun. He'd save that until he was in need of week day entertainment or until hell froze over, which ever came first. Today was Saturday, not a day for reading. He kept digging through his desk until he came up with what he was looking for. A big drawing pad and some pencils. He opened the comic to a page he thought would be easy to copy and then he started to sketch. He found that after a half an hour or so, he was actually enjoying himself and turning out some pictures that looked pretty similar to the comic book pictures.

Toby and Dyl had pretty similar personalities, so it wasn't a surprise that he was also on his bed with his head buried in a book. And he was just as surprised as Dyl at how much fun it was. So much so that he thought that he might even keep this hobby up even when he wasn't grounded any more. Well that was the plan now, probably wouldn't still think that when it was ok for him to go outside and play again or watch his television or play his games.

At the Gibbs household Maddie was in bed and Gibbs was about to talk to her. Because of her hospital stay, they hadn't had a chance to tell her yet that she was grounded for three weeks like the others. She was wondering why someone wasn't setting up a movie for her or finding a program on the TV, and where were her dolls.

"You have to know Maddie that you're in trouble." Gibbs said. Maddie was shocked.

"But...but I got hurt. I gotta BURNED FOOT! I was in the hospital." She said.

"I know. And Mommy and I were sick with so was everyone else."

"Seeeee?" Maddie said.

"I do see. But I also know that you got burnt because you were very naughty." He said.

Maddie pouted. "But my foot hurts. Worser than a spanking, so why do I gotta be punished?" she asked.

"Because as I just said you were very naughty." He said. "You pretended you were asleep, and then you snuck out of the house."

"They ma..." she started. Gibbs held his hand up to stop her.

"Think very carefully before you finish that sentence." He said "Because you don't want to add lying and get yourself in even more trouble. Do you?" Maddie shook her head. "Nobody made you did they?"

"No Daddy. I wanted to see the fireworks." She said. "I'm sorry."

"I know you are. But, for the next three weeks, you're grounded. And there'll be no Aunt Abby and Uncle Tim's house for three weeks either. You can only see Jess when you go back to school." He said.

"NO FAIR!" she said. Gibbs shrugged.

"No choice." He said. And he lifted some of her books off the shelf and put them beside her with some colouring books and crayons. Maddie folded her arms and pouted. Gibbs kissed the top of her head and left her alone to come to terms with her punishment. Only she didn't really come to terms with it. She just got madder. It wasn't fair and she couldn't not see Jess. She would pushed the books and crayons off the bed. That didn't help. Now she had nothing to do.

Jess decided that she was gonna make Mommy understand that it was unfair. She stomped down the stairs and stood there with her arms folded and her bottom lip ready and prepared herself to bring out the big guns. It didn't take much to bring the tears to her eyes, she really was upset at being kept from her best friend.

"Mommy?" she said a she got closer the tears now freely running down her pink cheeks.

"What's wrong Jess?" Abby asked.

"It's not fair." She said. "I need Maddie and she needs me. Those boys are gonna get to see each other at school and I won't get to see Maddie AT ALL until she comes back to school. It's not fair it isn't." she said. Abby's heart melted at the sight of her pathetic little broken hearted girl.

"Come here sweetie." she said holding out her arms to Jess. As Jess crawled into Abby's lap and sobbed, Tim fixed Abby with a stern glare and rolled his eyes. She got the message but chose to ignore it for a minute.

"I can see how you think that it's not fair Jess, but I can't do anything about when Maddie is ready to return to school. The boys aren't going to see that much of each other. They'll be in class." She tried to explain.

"Still not fair." Jess said. Tim had just about had enough.

"I'm sorry that you feel that way Jess but the punishment stands. We don't even know how long Maddie's gonna be off school. It may not be very long at all." He said. Jess didn't say anything else but she scowled as she walked away.

"And lose that look young lady." Tim said. Jess stomped noisily up the stairs. Tim had to hide a smile. She had to have been watching Abby. She was a stomper from way back. Finally there was the slamming of her door. Tim raised his eyebrows.

"You have to feel a little sorry for her." Abby said. Tim's mouth dropped open in shock.

"Are you serious Abs? She's seven. She snuck out of the house after fooling us that she was asleep and by her own admission she knew what she was doing. No one forced her. She could have been the one in that hospital with a burn. She's damn lucky that her bottom is still not burning. She better watch the attitude or it just might be still." He said. Abby frowned.

"But they are kind of missing out more than the boys. Maybe a phone call." She said.

"No." Tim said. "It's the luck of the draw."

"But she's so sad Tim." Abby said.

"Mmmm. No. She's angry and she's got a pretty bad attitude if you ask me. One which I won't put up with for much longer." He said.

"Hmmmmpff." Abby pouted.

"I can fix your attitude too if you like." He said with a half joking grin. She poked her tongue out and punched his arm. He tipped her over his knee playfully and smacked her bottom a few times. "Still feel like giving me attitude?"

"Probably more now." She said giggling. Tim bit her playfully on the shoulder and let her up.

"Later then." He said giving her another smack.

Sarah chose just that moment to come through the living room on the way to the kitchen for a drink. "Oh do you two ever stop?" she asked with mock disgust. "She's pregnant already Tim you can leave her alone anytime now." Tim rolled his eyes. This house was just FULL of attitude today he thought. At the scowl she found directed at her she raised her hands. "Fine. I get it. Grope your pregnant wife in public all you like, you won't here anything about it from me." She said and then darted into the kitchen the long way making sure she kept out of her grumpy brother's reach. She rolled her eyes. She hated it when the kids were in trouble, sucked the sense of humour right out of him.

"Mmmm. Might go check on Dyl." Tim said. "He's the only one that hasn't given me attitude today. I wanna make sure he's still here and hasn't escaped out the window or something." Abby did her best to look shocked.

"He wouldn't do a thing like that!" she said as she tried in vain to keep a straight face. " He's a good boy."

"Uhhuh." Tim said.

"Mmhmm." Abby said back poking out her tongue.

"You'll keep." Tim said as he jogged up the stairs grinning. As he opened Dyl's door, he got the shock of his life. It wasn't the billowing drapes of a left open window from a child that had escaped. It wasn't a child trying to get away with watching TV while his folks backs were turned. No it was his son reading an actual book. With a cover and pages. It had chapters and no pictures. It was an honest to goodness book and it was Saturday night. It was enough to make Tim cry. But it didn't, instead he couldn't wipe the smile off his face. There was nothing like that feeling of seeing your child enjoying a book. It probably would have been taken for granted in the days before technology, but there were so many distractions now, not all kids chose to read. They did when they had to, but it wasn't a first choice as a form of entertainment. And not a lot learned how to LOSE themselves in a book. But Dyl had, he hadn't even noticed that Tim had come into his room. There he was smiling, actually smiling at whatever was on those pages. That meant that he understood what he was reading and he liked it. Wow! Tim snuck back out and closed the door quietly. There was no way that he wanted to interrupt THAT moment.

Jess must have heard her Daddy come out of Dyl's room and was waiting for him in the hallway. She must have overheard some of his conversation with Abs. Either that or she'd come up with the idea on her own, both concepts were feasable.

"Daddy if I can't SEE Maddie can I phone her?" she asked.

"No honey you can't." he said. Jess Scowled at him and poked her tongue out before slamming the door hard. Tim frowned. Well that was enough of that attitude for one day.

"Jessica McGee you open that door right now!" he said. Jess opened the door a crack and stuck her head through.

"NO!" she said and slammed the door again. Tim marched over and opened the door himself. Jess had by now found just a scraping of self preservation and had got into bed.

"I won't do it anymore I'm going to bed." She said as she turned over and tried to pull the covers over her. Too little too late. Tim pulled the covers down and smacked her bottom hard several times.

"I'm glad you're tired Jess, because you can stay there now. And no story." He said. "And when you wake up tomorrow, your attitude better be better. Do ya here?"

"Yes Daddy." She said sadly with tears in her eyes. Tim kissed the top of her head and pulled the covers up to her chin and tucked her in.

"Sweet dreams." Tim said. He turned on her night light, turned off the big light and closed the door quietly. What a weekend, he thought. I'll be glad to go back to work and then he walked past Dyl's room and remembered the look that he'd worn as he was reading and it made him smile. There was always a silver lining.

TBC


	94. Chapter 94

Thankyou all for your reviews and alerts. As always, I appreciate them all and I love to know what your thinking. I hope you all enjoy this chapter :)

I would like to send out a really big thankyou to Maudlin Muse, who had the idea for this next storyline and who always helps me :)

Chapter 94

A few days had gone over and the kids had all gone back to school, without Maddie of course, who was still recovering from her injury.

The four boys had met at recess and lunch, choosing to take advantage of being able to spend time in each others company. The conversation naturally drifted to what they'd been doing with their spare time. Spare time that they never really thought they had much of until they had hours of it to fill with not much to do. Even though three of the boys had discovered, well two had discovered and one had rediscovered their love of reading, all three were reluctant to divulge this fact to the others. Kyle knew that Mike had been reading of course, but he was just as embarrassed to admit THAT as he would have been if he'd actually partaken in the unsavoury act himself. No it seemed that white lying or hedging around the truth was the order of the day. Except for Kyle who saw his new hobby as not only acceptable but quite cool.

"Been drawing." He said as they posed the question to each other. "Cartoons. Copying them so they look almost the same." The other boys looked suitably impressed while quietly racking their own brains for something equally as interesting.

"I drew a bit too." Dyl lied. Well he had for a few minutes on the first day of being grounded, that counted didn't it? Well actually it was probably more like doodling, but it was putting a pencil to paper so... Not being very inventive, Toby decided to go along with that idea too. He knew it was lame but he wasn't good at coming up with stuff on the spot like that.

"Me too." He said as he jumped in the boat with Dyl. Mike looked at them and bit his bottom lip, he nearly made something up but changed his mind and decided to tell the truth. He didn't really get why he was supposed to be embarrassed about reading anyway. He liked to read. There were like millions of books in the stores and the libraries, so he mustn't be the only one.

"I've been reading." Michael said quietly like he was admitting to some dreadful deep dark secret. Kyle rolled his eyes but to his surprise, he was the one left with egg on his face. Both Toby and Dyl's heads spun around.

"So have I!" Dyl said.

"Me too!" Toby said. "What're you reading?"

"The Lion the Witch and the wardrobe." Mike said. "My Mom chose all these books before they brought us home, both our shelves are full of them. I'm nearly finished this one and then I'm gonna read 'Prince Caspian' and then there's heaps more after that." He said relieved and excited that the other boys actually seemed to not be appalled. Except for Kyle who's face looked stunned. He thought that it was odd that his brother liked to read, he couldn't have been wrong could he? He thought. Nah. They must all just be touched a little with the geek gene. Still, didn't make any difference to him. Might be something in this reading thing. He might just look over that comic after all.

Miss Maddie wasn't in a great mood. She was bored and tired but didn't want to go to sleep, it was only lunch time. She really wanted to see Jess. It wasn't fair. Maddie was usually a very confident little girl but she couldn't help being a little worried. She was here alone but Jess wasn't. She was at school with lots of other people. What if Jess made a new best friend and didn't need her anymore? But at least she was going back to school tomorrow. So that would be better. And she didn't have to wear a shoe, cos of the bandage. She just had to wear a sock over the bandage and that would mean that everyone would pay attention to her. But best of all she was gonna be with Jess again.

Jess was just as excited. Tomorrow was gonna be like Christmas. She'd been OK at school, the other kids were nice to her but nothing was ever the same if Maddie wasn't there. Jess's teacher actually was quite impressed by the amount of work that Jess had done. She finished her writing in record time and got all of her Maths right. She read a whole book instead of just the few pages that she usually got through. Admittedly it wasn't a big book, but compared to what she usually did, it was an enormous improvement.

It was obvious to Jess and Maddie's teacher, while Maddie was away, that a lot of talking and socialising must be going on when they were together, to have brought about this massive improvement in Jess when they had been abruptly separated. MMmmm she thought. It might be an idea to separate them in the classroom when Maddie did return. She knew how attached they were but she was the teacher she had to do what was best for their education, and at this minute that seemed to her like having them each sit with someone else at least as a trial, might be the best answer.

So the next day as they excitedly got ready for school, the girls were both oblivious to this experiment that was about to take place. By the time Tim and Abby got up, Jess was already dressed and sitting on her bed with her hairbrush and her hair ties and ribbons waiting for some one to do her hair. Abby smiled as she walked through the room and placed a kiss on the top of Jess messy haired head. "Today's the day!" she said to Jess who was just beaming with pleasure.

"I can't wait." She said. "Can't we go now?"

"Well, if we went now Jess we'd be standing there waiting by ourselves cos it's too early. We need to have breakfast first and go at the right time. OK?" Abby explained.

"OK Mommy." Jess said trying to hide her disappointment. She really had tried to be good since that first night when she'd been kinda mad and she'd lost her temper. It still wasn't fair but she'd kept that fact to herself. She didn't like it when her Daddy was mad at her.

Maddie was just as excited if not more. At least the other kids had seen the outside world. Maddie had been cooped up since Friday and she was sooo ready to go back to school. She was a little nervous too because of what she'd thought about yesterday. The thing about Jess making a new friend. Nah, she thought. Her and Jess would always be bestest friends. Nothing could ever change that.

At the Dinozzo's house things were a little different that morning. When the boys came down dressed in their uniforms for breakfast, it was to find their dad in the kitchen making breakfast. Not their Mom. They both looked at each other at the same time and frowned. "Where's Mom and why?" Kyle said.

"Good morning to you too son and why what?" Tony said warningly to his blonde haired son who was teetering on the edge of being a smart ass. Again. Obviously, the new and improved contrite attitude was starting to recede a little. Not a big surprise. Tony just hoped that there was enough left that he would keep his antics to a bare minimum. His eyes drifted up the stairs briefly as he wondered again why Ziva would be sick. Probably just a bug, he thought as he was brought back to the present by his hungry kids.

"Daaad! Your burning them." Kyle whined. Tony flipped a pancake and added it to the stack he had on the plate. He had been cooking for the last fifteen minutes.

"Is Mom ok?" Mike said. His Mom nearly always made breakfast. Except on the weekends if she happened to have gone for a run and they were up before she got back.

"She's fine Mike, she just has a headache that's all." Tony said. He was actually a little worried himself. He had never known Ziva to suffer from sick headaches like the one she claimed she had this morning. Or any kind of sickness really that had kept her from her usual routine. Especially one that kept her in bed. She was always an early riser who loved her early morning runs no matter what, and she didn't usually let sickness get to her.

Upstairs Ziva was lying in bed staring at the ceiling. She was not really as sick as she had let on to Tony but she did not feel herself. After sleeping all night she was still tired and she felt a little nauseous. Not overly so, but enough to get her thinking. Her run yesterday had been uncomfortable to say the least. Even with the heavy duty sports bra that she had worn. She threw back the covers angrily and moved towards the bathroom to shower. Not as fast as her temper would have liked her to go but a fresh wave of nausea as she stood up prevented it. This only served to increase her frustration. This is why this would be impossible, she thought. HOW! How could she do her job and be out on the field if she could not get out of bed without feeling ill. She could not even go for her morning run because her body insisted on betraying her with the breasts that suddenly seemed to have doubled in size and sensitivity. How could she concentrate on taking down a suspect while trying to protect herself and a baby that relied on her to keep it safe. It was impossible.

As they all piled into the car for school Jess prattled happily about school and Maddie and Dyl gave her a shove. "Shut up about Maddie would ya?" Dyl said. "We get it. Your gonna see Maddie today. Woohoo." Jess poked her tongue out.

"Moooommy! He's bein mean to me." Jess whined. Tim had gone to work earlier, so Abby was in the driver's seat. She spun around to the two in the seat behind her and narrowed her eyes.

"Don't start." Were only two words she said and they were meant for both of them. They got the message. Abby SEEMED a lot better, but the truth was, that she having to try extra hard to keep herself in check, but it wouldn't take much. The kids had been witness to her outbursts on occasion and didn't want to be on the receiving end of her wrath, so they wisely decided to shut up for the time being. Luckily for them and Sarah, this was enough to placate their Mom and she returned to her previously sunny natured self within moments.

Gibbs had also gone to work early as usual, so it was just Kim who drove Maddie to school. Like Jess and most other little girls of their age, Maddie loved to talk endlessly, especially about things that she was excited about. And today, excited didn't even really begin to cover what she felt. Today all the pieces of the puzzle of her world would be put back together when she and her best friend were reunited. They had all day to catch up and talk about everything that had been going on. Well not that there had been much going on in Maddie's world, but she was sure looking forward to hearing from Jess what had been going on while she was away.

The Dinozzo trip was a quiet one. Ziva was cranky. There was no other word for it. Tony had tried to get her to stay home and take it easy but she had refused giving him a look that would destroy the resolve of a lesser man. But Tony persevered.

"Ziva, how often do you get sick? The Boss won't care. You need to take it easy." He said. Ziva narrowed her eyes in another withering glare.

"I do NOT NEED TO TAKE IT EASY! For the last time, I am FINE!" Ziva yelled. The boys looked at each other with wide eyes. Their parents never really fought. Well the back and forth comments they usually did they were used to but this was different. Their Mom looked angry and their Dad looked...worried. Neither were too keen on this turn of events and kept very quiet all the way to school.

Abby and Kim were standing talking while they watched the girls happily walking off hand in hand. They actually wondered how they could possibly have understood each other as they talked a hundred miles an hour and both at the time.

"They really are cute together." Kim said.

"Uhhuh." Abby said. "You know, why the hell did we have to say no Sunday lunches anyway. I missed seeing everyone on Sunday myself." Abby said pouting slightly.

"Me too. No gossip sessions." Kim said. "I feel really out of the loop."

"Yeah me too." Abby said. "How're we ever gonna know what's going on with everyone." Just as she finished speaking, Tony and Ziva pulled up and the boys got out of the car and took off in the direction of their friends as fast as their legs would carry them. Tony smiled and waved, but Ziva just gave a curt nod and wave. They drove off and Abby and Kim were left staring at the back of the car as it disappeared out of sight, wondering what the hell had just happened. Finally they turned to look at each other.

"Um...yeah...like that. What the hell just happened?" Abby said stunned that Ziva hadn't even bothered to get out and say hello.

Kim's expression reflected exactly the same curiosity. "No idea. But we are definitely doing lunch. We really need to touch base with Ziva." She said. Abby nodded her head vaguely as she climbed back into her car.

"And I'll phone Amber!" Kim called out. Abby nodded.

As she drove the family van back to work, Abby's Gibbs gut was screaming at her. Something was really wrong here. Never mind. Whatever it was they'd fix it.

TBC


	95. Chapter 95

Thankyou all for your reviews and alerts I appreciate each and every one. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

I would like to thank Maudlin Muse again for her story ideas and invaluable help. I don't know what I'd do without her :)

Chapter 95

Maddie and Jess went inside their classroom still chattering away and went to their table not even looking at the place cards as they sat down. Suddenly Maddie looked up and froze.

"Jess." She whispered in a confused voice. "There's another name here." Jess's head popped up.

"There can't be." She answered her eyes in mirrored confusion.

"Well there is." Maddie said. "Was someone else sitting here while I was away?"

"Nope. Just me and your space on this side of the table." Jess said wide eyed.

"Well I'm not moving." Maddie said folding her arms. This is my seat and I'm staying. A thought suddenly occurring to her, she picked up the place card with the name Josh on it and hobbled around the room until she found one with her name on it. She picked up her place card and dropped Josh's card in it's place. The two little girls that were seated at the table looked at each other but then looked down. Neither was game to say anything. This was MADDIE, no one liked to cross Maddie, especially when she wasn't happy. And she didn't look at all happy until she'd swapped the place cards over. Any other child that was in the room waiting for the teacher just sat and watched and waited for the entertainment to begin.

Maddie was oblivious as she took her place card back over to her old spot next to Jess and placed it down neatly, with determination she took HER place. Jess looked at her nervously. This was gonna be trouble she could just feel it, but she didn't want Maddie to move to another desk either. It wasn't fair. Nothing was fair anymore. She looked over at Maddie and smiled, and as the teacher walked into the room she slipped her hand inside Maddie's. They would do this the same as always. Together.

Ziva and Tony hardly said a word on the way to work. Ziva stared straight ahead occasionally looking out of her side window. Her blank expression didn't give away one tiny iota of the tension, fear and anger that was welling up inside her. I do not even know for sure yet, she thought. It may be a false alarm. But in her heart she knew what it was and she knew that there was nothing false about the alarm she was feeling. She could not even look at Tony. She could not tell him. She could not share this news that she was sure that he would see as a gift and then take it away. Because that is what she would have to do. There was no way in hell that she could keep this baby. Her job was too important to her and although that was selfish, she could not help how she felt. They had their boys, their instant family and she adored them, but they could do some things for themselves. The thought of a baby, a tiny baby that would rest inside her body needing to be kept safe, while she did anything BUT ensure that safety. Just by doing her job. And then after it was born, assuming that it was lucky enough to make it that far, what then. She could not take it to work with her like Abby could, nestled safely in her lab. Beside her where she would be able to nurture and coddle it. What would she do? Leave it in a car seat while she chased up leads? No. She would wait until she was ready. And she was not ready yet.

Abby almost got out of the elevator at the bullpen, but she had a feeling that she and Ziva were going to need privacy for the conversation they were going to have. And they WERE going to have a conversation. There was trouble afoot and Abby could feel it, sense it, hell she SAW it on Ziva's face as they drove out of the school ground. As she entered her lab, she said a quick good morning to all her babies as she turned them on and then picked up her phone. "Ziva honey, I have some evidence down here I need you to take a look at... Yes Ziva it's important, I wouldn't have asked otherwise...See you then." As she hung up she ran around the lab looking for something that would pass as evidence so that she could stall her long enough to talk. Snatching up some paper work and a blood stained slide Abby prepared to meet Ziva as she stepped out of the elevator.

She wasn't prepared though, as Ziva walked out of the elevator and straight through the lab and into Abby's office. She dropped into a chair and promptly burst into tears. Abby dropped the paperwork and the slide onto one of the desks in the lab and rushed into the office where she dropped onto her haunches to better see Ziva's face. Shit, if Ziva was CRYING it must be worse than she thought.

"Ziva honey, what's wrong?" she pleaded desperately. Ziva shook her head but kept on crying.

"Did you and Tony have a fight? What did he do?" she asked going into protective mode. Ziva shook her head.

"He did not do anything...It ...it is what I have to do...I" she started. Abby waited as patiently as she could for a couple of minutes for Ziva to get herself together.

"Ziva?" Abby said finally when she couldn't wait any longer. Ziva didn't look up as she spoke.

"I am pretty sure that I am pregnant." She said. Abby jumped up and down and squealed until she noticed that Ziva hadn't joined in.

"You're not happy about it?" Abby said worriedly.

Ziva shook her head. "I am not going to have it." She said. Abby's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. It was one of the rare occasions when she couldn't think of anything to say. Well nothing that would help anyways. But she couldn't help it, parts of the Catholic religion were ingrained and they totally took her over when she least expected it.

"Ziva you can't! It's a..." she nearly said sin, but then stopped and rephrased. "It's wrong." Ziva had stopped crying and looked at Abby impassively.

"It is my body and I have made up my mind." She said. Abby's breathing quickened. She didn't know how to deal with this, with her own baby not much bigger than Ziva's would be, growing inside her with it's little heart beating away, this felt ...wrong.

"Ziva, Tony is never gonna let you do this..." she said, knowing that it wasn't enough but knowing that she had to try anything she could.

"I...I am not going to tell Tony." She said. For the second time in their short conversation, Abby mouth dropped open. "It would be cruel. I am not ready to have this baby. I won't have this baby. To tell Tony and then take it away would be cruel." Abby clutched Ziva's arms in her own as she spoke again, she hoped this time convincingly.

"Ziva. You're scared...I KNOW how you feel...It's a big thing." Abby tried. The words sounded so shallow and not at all what she wanted to say but the right words just wouldn't come.

"No Abby. You do not know how I feel because you are not me. You do not have to give up ANYTHING to have your baby. You can keep your job and you can bring it down here with you where it is safe. You can feed it and nurture it and you do not have to hand it over to strangers every day." She said. "I have my boys. They are enough. For now."

"You need to do a test." Abby said sadly.

"I know." Ziva said.

"You shouldn't keep secrets from your husband Ziva." Abby said quietly. Ziva looked at her incredulously.

"You are not serious. ...You are! You Abigail McGee, are telling me, that it is WRONG to keep secrets from my husband?" she said and Abby looked abashed.

"Ziva I know my track record isn't that great in the truth department, but, well I would never hide a whole person from Tim." She said.

"ABBY! It is not a person. It is a bunch of cells, that is all." Ziva said defensively. Abby cocked her head to one side.

"Ziva, if it's not alive, then how does it grow and so fast too." Abby said hoping that at least some small thing that she'd said would get through, but knowing in her heart that she hadn't even managed to chip away at Ziva's resolve.

"My mind is made up." Ziva said and she got up to leave. She didn't want Abby to see her cry again. Contrary to what Abby was thinking, she HAD made a slight impression. Not enough to change Ziva's mind though, just enough to make her feel guilty. As she got inside the elevator and the doors closed, Ziva hit the switch to stop car and slid down the wall. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed. Oh Tony! I'm so sorry, she thought.

Abby covered her tummy with her hands protectively and sank into her chair. What the hell was she going to do with this piece of information?

AS the Miss Kelly walked into the room, Maddie squeezed Jess hand. "Maddie!" she said. "How nice to see you back." Maddie beamed. It must have been a mistake, she thought.

"Maddie honey, I've decided to move you to another table where you can have fewer distractions. It'll be good for both of you." Miss Kelly said.

"I don't wanna move." Maddie said her eyes not leaving her teachers face. There was challenge in her own eyes and Miss Kelly didn't miss it. Oh dear, she thought. Shades of the old Maddie back.

"And I don't want her to move. She's my bestest friend ever and we wanna sit together." Jess said her voice full of determination and her bottom lip stuck out...And her side kick, Miss Kelly thought with amusement. Well they weren't going to win.

"Maddie, while you were gone I realised that Jess got a lot more work done while she wasn't talking all the time. I know that it'll be the same for you. Imagine how proud you parents will be when you bring home better grades." She said, matching Maddie's unwavering stare.

"I'm not moving." Maddie said as she continued the stare Miss Kelly down.

"Yes Maddie you are." Miss Kelly said firmly.

"No I'm not." Maddie said clinging to Jess hand. "And YOU can't make me." The teacher was working hard on keeping her breathing normal, not wanting to give away any sign that she might be out of her depth.

"Fine... Josh? Come down here please and bring your place card with you." She said. Josh stood up nervously and brought his place card and stood next to the teacher. "Jess, go and sit in Josh's place please." Maddie squeezed Jess hand to give her strength. Jess tipped her chin in defiance.

"NO." she said. " I wanna sit with Maddie." Miss Kelly looked at both girls and allowed her eyes to quickly scan the rest of the classroom. All eyes were on her, waiting to see what she would do. If only she knew.

"Last chance. One of you girls get up and move to Josh's spot or I'm going to get Sister Mary Clarence to come down here." She said. "And she WON'T be happy."

When Ziva had cried herself out she stood up straightened herself out and pressed the button to start the elevator back up. She pressed the floor to the lobby. She knew what she had to do. But first things first. Taking a deep breath, she walked out of the building and towards the mall. A pregnancy test was the first step.

Abby sat in her office not moving for a long time. She was only brought out of her thoughts by the buzzing of her phone in her pocket. It was Kim.

"Hey! Did you talk to Ziva?" Kim said.

"Can't talk on the phone. What time can you get here?" Abby asked letting a slight amount of panic creep into her voice without thinking.

"Is everything alright hon?" Kim asked.

"What time Kim? I can't say. It's like cone of silence stuff." Abby said.

"Ok, ok. We'll be there at 12:00pm." She said before ending the call. Abby got up and decided to try and do some work, she just hoped that Tim didn't come down. She really didn't want to put him in this position and that's exactly what she'd be doing. He couldn't NOT tell Tony, and then all hell would break loose. She'd tell Tim and Tony herself if she had to, she just hoped that she could fix this first.

\

Tim was typing away at his desk when his phone rang. He picked it up and groaned when he heard the unmistakable voice of Sister Mary Clarence on the other end of the phone. After listening to what seemed like half an hour but what was probably only a few minutes, Tim got a word in. "I'll be right there Sister." He said.

No sooner had Tim hung up than Gibbs phone rang. It was Kim. After listening to her explanation, he stuck his hand up to signal Tim to wait. He hung up the phone and called out to Tim. "I'm coming." Tim punched the button to keep the elevator doors open. As the doors closed behind them instead of laughing like he used to, Tony blew out a breath of relief. Thank God it wasn't one of his kids for a change.

Tim sent Abby a quick message while he was on his way to the car. He was a little worried that she'd be upset that he hadn't told her and taken her with him but actually she was relieved that he was taking care of it. She had bigger things on her mind. What ever scrape Jess had managed to get herself into now could be handled just fine by her Daddy. At the moment her priority was Baby Dinozzo. He or she had to have someone go into bat for them.

Ziva entered the bull pen and smiled at Tony, hoping like hell that she didn't have guilt written all over her face. Guilt was a new experience for Ziva, in her old world, you did what you had to do and you did not look back. There was no need and no time for guilt because your main priority was staying alive, no matter what you had to do. And that was how she would get through this if she had to, in survival mode.

She made her way to the rest rooms and took the package out of her bag as she entered one of the cubicles. It felt like she didn't take a breath at all in the time it took her to take the test and wait for the results. She paced up and down deliberately not looking in the direction of the test. When she looked at her watch for the last time and realised the moment had come, she took a calming breath. She turned around and swiped tears from her eyes as she saw the unmistakable pink lines. Carefully wrapping the test up in the wrapping it had come in, she disposed of it and walked back into the bullpen with her mask back in place.

"Hey Zi." Tony said. "Where you been all morning?"

"I have been busy Tony. Must I role off every place that I have been?" she said in an irritated voice.

"Ah...no...a simple, I've been flat out busy Tony would have worked for me. And it's reel off not role off." He said sharply, starting to feel injured by her constant rebuffs of any overtures he made.

"Tony I...I am sorry. I am tired. That is all." She said as she turned to her computer. Tony smiled back. Hopefully that's all it is he thought although his gut was telling him different.

Ziva turned to he computer screen and sighed as she Googled the words she dreaded seeing on the monitor. 'Abortion Clinics in the DC area.'

TBC


	96. Chapter 96

Thankyou everyone for the great reviews and alerts. I appreciate them all an I love to know what you're thinking. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Thankyou again to Maudlin Muse who once again helped me to get my thoughts straight. :)

Chapter 96

As Gibbs and Tim arrived at the office they were informed that their presence was needed in the girls' classroom, not the office as was usually the case. They looked at each other briefly before moving towards the classroom. "This isn't good." Tim said. "They mustn't have been able to get them to move." Gibbs grunted.

"Maddie'll move alright. She'll be grateful when she's able to sit anywhere when I'm finished with her." he said grumpily. Tim could be strict but Gibbs was old school. In his book kids didn't refuse to do anything that a teacher asked them to do. He didn't care if Miss Kelly asked her to sit UNDER the damn desk. All he wanted to hear Maddie say was yes Miss Kelly. And do it. Telling the teacher she didn't wanna move. What the hell was next. Not even back five minutes he thought.

Tim's thoughts were following a similar vein although maybe not quite so colourful as Gibbs. He was just thinking that she had better have a damn good explanation for why all hell had broken loose on account of them. He could see the rest of Jess and Maddie's class sitting under a tree reading, with what looked like a substitute watching them. That must mean that both Miss Kelly and Sister Mary Clarence were in the classroom with the girls.

Ziva found what she was looking for while keeping one eye on Tony. She had never felt more guilty than she did while doing this right in front of him, but it was the best opportunity that she would have, with Gibbs and Tim out together. It was easier to keep her eye on one person while she did this than three. Besides she needed to do this before anymore time went over. She could not risk giving herself too much time to think. Not that she would change her mind because she would not... but it was better this way. Following the prompts, Ziva managed to secure an appointment for the following day. She would tell Tony that she was going to the dentist. She could then call and say that she needed to go home, because of the pain. It would be necessary to get someone to drive her home. She would have to ask Abby. Ziva did not want to do that, it was against Abby's beliefs and it would put her in a difficult position but she also did not want to tell anyone else. Abby might be upset, but she wouldn't say no.

When the elevator dinged at 12:02 signalling the arrival of Kim and Amber Abby was waiting as the doors opened, hands on hips.

"You're late!" she said, clearly completely flustered now. "You said you'd be here at 12:00pm.

Kim and Amber looked at each other. "And it's like two minutes after Abby." Kim said prepared to use her Mommy voice if Abby was in one of her hormone moods, but sensing that something was actually really wrong.

"What's up Abs?" Amber asked, even if Abby WAS in a mood she felt sorry for her, it wasn't that long ago that she had been suffering from pregnancy attitude herself and she knew how hard it was to control.

"It's Ziva, isn't it." Kim said searching Abby's face for answers. Abby nodded.

"I'm ninety nine percent sure she's pregnant. She hadn't done a test but she's pretty sure." Abby said unhappily.  
"YAY!" Amber said but noticed the look on Abby's face and stopped.

"And the problem with that is?" Kim said. Abby burst into tears.

"She isn't gonna have the baby and she isn't even gonna tell Tony that she's pregnant." She said miserably. Kim's and Amber's mouths kept opening and closing like fish. If the situation hadn't been so tragic it would have been comical.

"For God's sake why not?" Kim said, for the life of her she couldn't think of one reason why a married woman with a lovely husband and good money coming in, wouldn't want to keep her baby. Abortions were for desperate people. Ziva wasn't desperate.

"I don't understand." Was all Amber could come up with as she clutched her belly protectively.

"She says that she's not ready to have a baby and give it to strangers to raise while she's at work. And she's not ready to give up her job." Abby said. "I don't know what to do. She's a friend. I don't want to betray a friend, but so is Tony and I can't let her kill his baby without him even having a say." Kim wrapped Abby in a big hug as she continued to break her heart.

"Honey, you do know what to do. You just said so then." She said.

"I guess." Abby said. "I don't think I can do this alone. I'm gonna have to tell Timmy and I know he'll tell Tony. It's for the best isn't it?" The other girls nodded somberly. Of course it was the right thing to do but neither of them would have wanted to be in Abby's position. Kim just hoped that Abby was quick because once Jethro found out there was bound to be trouble.

When the girls had left and Abby waited patiently for Tim, her phone rang. It was Ziva asking for a lift tomorrow. Abby breathed a sigh that was half relief and half guilt. Relief because she would know the time and the place and guilt because in order to help one friend, she would have to betray another. She prayed to God that Ziva would one day forgive her.

Gibbs knocked on the classroom door and Sister Mary Clarence came to greet them. Instead of inviting them into the classrooms she gestured for them to follow her away a little so they could talk.

"As I explained on the phone to you Mr McGee and your wife Mr Gibbs, the girls were not happy about the new seating arrangements in the class." She said looking from one man's blank face to the other rather grumpy one. "It appears that they are now holding ... a ...sit in of sorts. They are both steadfastly refusing to move from their seats."

Gibbs looked confused. "They're not that big. Couldn't you just move them?" he asked as though the solution was obvious. Tim almost smiled. It was evident that things had changed somewhat since Gibbs went to school.

Sister Mary Clarence gave Gibbs the condescending smile. "Things are different now. We don't have the authority to touch children physically anymore." She said.  
"Mmm. Well I can see how well that's working." Gibbs said in his crotchety voice. " In my day, seven year olds didn't hold a classroom hostage because the teacher asked them to do something that didn't suit them."

Now he got the genuine smile. "I don't disagree with you there Mr Gibbs. But my hands are tied. Pardon the pun." Tim did smile at this. "However yours aren't. I'd appreciate it if you do whatever you have to get the girls to listen to Miss Kelly." She said. "Oh, they owe her an apology, and they have detention for three days. They should be suspended but I think it would do them more good to have to sit in their new seats."

"Well they won't be sitting comfortably." Gibbs said. Sister Mary Clarence hid a grin as she escorted them back to the classroom.

When the girls saw their Dads at the classroom door, they looked at each other in a panic. Miss Kelly nearly burst out laughing. So the big guns were here. She knew what that would have meant when she was a little girl. No wonder they'd lost some of their bravado. Not all though as neither of them moved as their fathers entered the room behind the Sister. Gibbs glared at Maddie and Tim glared at Jess as they walked over to talk to Miss Kelly.

"Which one did you ask to move first?" Gibbs asked, straight to the point.

"Maddie." Miss Kelly said. "I'd like to show you why if you have a minute." Tim and Gibbs both nodded. "You don't mind Mr McGee if I share Jess work with Mr Gibbs?"

"No, it's fine." He said. She put down two piles of work on the desk in front of her.

"This is Jess work from before Maddie was off injured." She said indicating one of the piles. "And this is from the last few days." Tim looked through one pile and then passed it to Gibbs and then did the same with the other pile. "As you can see, there's a marked improvement. I'm sure it'll be the same for Maddie. They can still play together at recess and lunch, but the classroom is not meant to be for socialising." Tim nodded.

"I can see that." He said. "I'm really sorry for all this."

"Yeah. Me too." Gibbs said marching up to Maddie. "Ok Maddie go sit in the chair you were asked to sit in."

"I don't wanna." Maddie said clinging on to Jess hand. "I wanna be with Jess."

"Too bad. Now move or I will move you." When she didn't move fast enough he bent down and whispered something in her ear. Maddie's face immediately flushed red with embarrassment and she let go of Jess's hand and gave her a sad smile as she took her place at her new table. Wow! Miss Kelly thought. I wish I could do that. Jess looked at HER Daddy who was now looming over her and gulped. Suddenly she didn't feel so brave.

"Sorry Miss Kelly." She said quickly, but by the look on her Daddy's face it was not gonna be enough to keep her out of trouble.

"What are you sorry for Jess?" Tim asked hoping to kill two birds with one stone. Make her give Miss Kelly a proper apology while finding out exactly what she did wrong.

"Um...for being bad." Jess said. She REALLY didn't wanna tell he Daddy that she was sassy and that she said no to the teacher. Tim leaned down very close and spoke very quietly, leaving Jess in no doubt how determined her Daddy was to hear the truth.

"EXACTLY, what are you sorry for. What did you do?" he said.

"I toldMissKellythatIdidn'twantMaddieetomove." She said without taking a breath. ."AndItoldherno." Jess topped all that by bursting into tears."

"Not gonna help Jess." Tim said. "Dry your tears and apologise to Miss Kelly, we'll have the rest of our discussion at home, but you better do EVERYTHING that you're told to do from now on. AND, don't ever let me hear that you backchatted a teacher again."

"Sorry Miss Kelly." Jess said her big blue eyes awash with unshed tears.

"Apology accepted Jess." Miss Kelly said.

Gibbs and Maddie were having a similar discussion. "What makes you think Miss that you can tell Miss Kelly that you don't want to do something?" Gibbs asked. Maddie shrugged. "Do I have to remind you of my earlier promise?" Maddie shook her head wildly.

"No. I shouldna outta told her that, but I want to sit next to Jess. I don't wanna sit next to no one else." She said, her resolve weakening but not completely broken yet.

"That's tough Maddie, because the teacher gets to decide not you. THIS is now your new seat. I better not hear that you gave Miss Kelly a hard time about IT or anything else. Do you hear?" Maddie nodded sadly. "Now apologise to Miss Kelly and MEAN it."

"Sorry Miss Kelly." Maddie said sadly now realising that she had lost and more than she realised at that point. They had been so looking forward to being together, and that hope was about to be dashed for the next few days. Not to mention that she had a spanking coming when her Daddy got home tonight. Still at least he hadn't done it here in front of Miss Kelly. Then she would have had to run away cos she would never come back here to this classroom again if that happened.

"Apology accepted Maddie. But girls there is still a matter of your school punishment. We can't allow you to be rude and disrupt the class like you did. So...for the next three days you will spend your lunch playtime in here with me. And, you will sit in your new seats." Maddie and Jess looked shocked. They had waited sooo long to spend just a little time together and now it had been taken away AGAIN. Maddie was pissed. But not brave enough to let that show just at the moment.

Jess pouted. Nothing was fair anymore! She thought.

Ziva hung up the phone from Abby and got up AGAIN to use the bathroom. That was another thing. How could she be on a stake out or out in the middle of nowhere constantly looking for a bathroom. Gibbs would just LOVE that. Excuse me Gibbs, I did go before we left the office but I need to go potty. Oh yes. He would be thrilled. Tony watched his wife stomp off to the bathroom for about the third time in the last half an hour and narrowed his eyes. Something was going on here and he intended to find out what. When Ziva opened the restroom door she walked smack into Tony.

"What's going on. Are you sick?" he asked.

"No I am not sick! Can I not go to the bathroom without an interrogation?" she asked trying to push past him but finding herself trapped.

"Why won't you talk to me Zi? I know something's wrong." He said.

"Tony. I am just in a bad mood. I don't want to talk right now." She said this time successfully getting around him and making it to her desk as he watched her, his face etched with concern.

As Ziva checked her emails, she noticed one from the clinic. Checking to see first to see where Tony was, she opened it. There had been a cancellation. If she wanted she could have her appointment this afternoon. She sent a reply and then sent Abby a message informing her of the new time and asking her if she would still be available. As she waited for the reply, she told herself again all the reasons why this was the best thing. Her phone dinged. Abby would be waiting for her in the parking garage at 3:00pm.

Now Abby was in a full blown panic. She had tried phoning Tim but he'd obviously turned his phone off while he was dealing with this thing at the school. She kept calling anyway. Leaving message after message. Each one more panicky than the last. Abby clutched her belly as she paced. "Don't worry little McBrat, we'll find a way to save your friend." Said soothingly.

TBC


	97. Chapter 97

I would like to thank everyone for there reviews and alerts as always I really appreciate them. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

A/N: The wonderful, perfect, talented and lovely The Maudlin Muse helped me write this chapter. She put up with my demanding battiness so well, she should be put in for sainthood.

I Maudlin Muse, would just like to add what a pleasure it was to work with such an easy to get along with author. I am truly privilaged to know her :)

Chapter 97

As they walked out of the school grounds Tim turned his phone back on. He was concerned to say the least at how many messages Abby had left. Actually concerned didn't begin to cover it, panicked would have been closer to the point, but he didn't even have a chance to tell Gibbs before the phone rang in his hand.

"Tim?" Abby said her voice laced with worry and irritation.

"Everything alright Abs? You and the baby..." he said.

"We're fine Tim but I need you to come down to the lab as soon as you get back ok?" she said. Tim frowned but tried to calm himself. This was Abby. She said that everything was fine with her and the baby, and he'd just left the school, so it couldn't be the kids.

"I'll come straight down." He said hoping it would be enough to relax her until he got there. " The very minute I get back Abs. I promise." Tim looked at his watch, nearly 2:00. Where had the day gone? He thought. Still, it shouldn't take them that long to get back to work, and then he could see Abs and sort all this out. But he spoke, well thought really too soon. As he looked up when he felt the car stop he realised they were smack dab in the middle of a traffic jam. Oh great! He thought. Always when you really need to be somewhere fast. He spun his head around to see how bad it was and sighed. Cars everywhere, in front, behind and both sides. And none of them were moving. Abby was gonna have a fit!

Half an hour went by and still no sign of Tim. Abby desperately tried to stay calm but she couldn't. She rang Tim again. He answered on the first ring. He really should have rung and told her they were stuck but he hoped that the cars would start moving soon and he would have something a bit more positive to tell her. Now that she'd got in first he wished he had.

"Abs." he said wincing as she flew into a conniption fit.

"Where the hell are you McGEE!" she said as she paced up and down furiously. "I need you, I really need you. You said you'd come!" she said. "Time's running out McGee don't you understand?"

"Um...no not really. Abs you're not making any sense. Can't you just tell me on the phone? Maybe I can help you from here." He said hoping if he didn't overreact she would calm down.

"Are you still sitting right next to Gibbs McGee?" she said with irritation but not loudly in case she was overheard.

"Ah... yeah." He said.

"Then I can't tell you. I wish I could." She hung up the phone and covered her face with her hands. She would have liked nothing better than to just give into the tears that were building up inside, but there was no time. She had to figure out what to do.

Upstairs in the bullpen, Ziva realised that she had better tell Tony about her 'dentists appointment'. She'd been putting it off because she really wasn't looking forward to lying to his face. But it had to be done and soon. Clutching at the side of her face, hoping to shield her eyes slightly, Ziva approached Tony's desk. He actually smiled.

"Ahhh. A toothache. Is that what's been wrong? You should have said. We're gonna have to get you an appointment at the dentist." He said, relief washing over him that the problem he'd been worrying all day about was as simple as a toothache. Toothaches could be fixed.

"No need Tony. I have an appointment and I will be leaving soon. Abby will drive me." She said.

"But I would have..." he started to say.

"I know you would have Tony but school. You need to get the boys." She said so grateful that she had a real reason to deflect him.

"Ok. Well you make sure that you don't chicken out. Ok?" he said smiling. If only he knew.

"I won't chicken out Tony." She said sadly, and she turned to pack up her things and leave. I hope you can forgive me Tony, if you ever find out. I hope I can forgive myself, she thought.

In retrospect, she'd already handled this all wrong Abby thought. What was she thinking telling Kim and Amber. THEY could be trusted, she knew that, still, it was her that was guilty of a breach of trust, she just hoped that Ziva would forgive her when she knew what she'd done. Ziva wasn't one to trust easily, she guarded her secrets well, it was HUGE that she had told Abby at all, she had trusted her and Abby had not been thinking when she called Amber and Kim. She was just so upset, she needed someone to talk to about it. The entire thing was hurting her so bad and she just needed to be able to talk to someone about it. She realized now though, that she should have swallowed her own hurt and thought about her friend and what, to Ziva would see as betrayal, would do to her.

God she hoped that Ziva believed that she wasn't just gossiping, because she wasn't. This had been more than gossip. She just felt so strongly about this issue and oh God. She was trying to justify something that she realised now was really wrong. Ziva had given up or at least shelved so much of what SHE believed in. She allowed the kids to attend the Catholic school, she joined in with so many of their customs, without a word of complaint. Never once tried to change what any of them believed, Abby realized, they should probably be doing more to incorporate Ziva's religion, which was very important to her, as well. Ziva had taken on so much of their religions, there was no reason they couldn't do the same for her in return.

But it wasn't only a religious thing, Abby really DID think that she might regret this decision. She couldn't do anything to change what she had done with telling the girls but she would be a good friend now. She would have to talk to Ziva in the car. She shut everything down and walked towards the elevator, going over in her mind what she was gonna say to Ziva. It didn't take long. She had no idea what she was gonna say.

Abby then rushed towards the parking garage and Ziva, praying that their friendship would survive this latest turn and that by some miracle, Tony would find out and get there in time and be able to change her mind.

Tony watched the place that Ziva had been waiting for the elevator for quite a few minutes after she left. At first he'd been relieved that she was only suffering from a toothache, but now he didn't know,...his gut was positively screaming at him. Why would she have carried on like that all day just because of a toothache. Normally she would have just said. Leave me alone Tony I have a toothache. Tony started to go over the entire day in his mind, frame by frame, Something just wasn't right. The more he thought about it, the more he believed that a toothache wasn't the reason for Ziva's mood. But what would be so important that she'd felt she had to lie to him. Unless she was covering for Abby again. He grinned. Oh yeah. He bet that's what it was. Abs had got them all wound up about something again. Only one way to find out. All that secretive tapping away on her computer, checking that no one was looking. That's where the evidence had to be. He snuck over to her desk and fired up her computer. Once it was up and running he clicked a few buttons to bring up the history. He sat in her chair and starting checking through them one by one.

As Abby reached the parking garage, she saw Ziva standing by her car. Abby rushed over and pulled her into a hug. Ziva rolled her eyes. She really did not need this sentiment. There was something that had to be taken care of and then everything would once again be normal.

"Abby I am fine." She said. Abby reluctantly let go.

"Sorry Ziva but ...well I needed a hug if you didn't." she said sadly. Abby opened the door to Ziva's side of the car and then went towards the driver's side. She took a deep breath before she opened her own door. Ziva wasn't gonna like anything she had to say in the car and Abby was nervous. Nervous and wishing like hell that she had a caf-pow. Wow, she thought. If ever I needed one, I need it now. As she pulled out onto the main street she took a breath. "Ziva, I know you're probably gonna tell me to shut up and mind my own business, but I have to try just one more time. In a perfect world where everything would fall into place just how you'd want it, is there anyway that you'd want to keep the baby?" she asked.

"Of course Abby. But there is no such place. There is here and now. And I cannot have this baby." She said. Abby clutched the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles were white. She wasn't angry, except for the fact that they didn't have enough time. All she wanted to do was give her friend some glimmer of hope that they could make this work. She would help her. They would all help her.

"Zi, I know you said that you're worried about being out on the field, but it wouldn't be for long and when the baby comes, it could be in the lab with me. I could look after it. I wouldn't be a stranger Zi, I would love it as my own, just until you got back. Then you could come down and kiss and coddle it and anything else, just like me. We could, couldn't we Zi?"

"Abby,I have made up my mind. I know how hard this is for you, I do. And if there was anyone else...but I did not want to tell anyone else." Abby bit her lip as she stared straight ahead. Oh God! She thought. She's never gonna forgive me, but I need to tell her.

"Zi...about that." Abby's eyes filled with tears as she choked out the next few words. "I kind of told Kim and Amber. I'm so sorry Zi, I didn't mean to...I...I guess that I was looking at this as a problem we had to solve, like we always do...but it... I just...needed someone to talk to...I know it was wrong. I betrayed a trust." Abby looked at Ziva's face, searching desperately for some kind of reaction. Even kind of hoping that she'd yell at her, hit her anything but just sit there like she was, staring out the window. "Ziva?"

"Just for once Abby. Shut up." She said acidly. And that was the last thing that she said until they pulled up outside the clinic. Ziva got out without saying another word and slammed the door.

Tony pulled up one page after another finding nothing that was of interest. It all seemed to be work related. Until there was the page... Tony went white. At first he thought it must be some kind of lead, and then he saw the date and time of the appointment. Ziva Dinozzo. 3:45pm. He grabbed his car keys and tore out of there like a hurricane, nearly knocking Gibbs and Tim over in the process. They didn't even have time to ask him what was wrong. He was gone.

When Tim went to sit down there was hastily scrawled note.

_Can you pick up the boys and bring them back here. _

Tim stared blankly at the closed elevator doors.

"He wants me to pick up the boys, but I won't get there in time. He mustn't have been thinking straight." He said confused and not a little worried. He had a bad feeling about this. "Do you thi..."

"Kim'll do it. Abby already gave her a spare set of keys to the van. She can drop them all off here." Gibbs said. But when he rang Kim she said that she'd already heard from Abby and she'd asked her to pick up Jess and Dyl. "Kim's already made arrangements with Abby to pick up your kids. I wonder where she and Ziva have gone."

"Mmm. Something's definitely up." Tim said. Thinking back to the mess Abby had been in on the phone, Tim was actually quite worried. He knew though that when she could she'd phone him with the details. All they ALL needed was another drama. If only he knew.

Tony ran into the clinic, he could barely breathe, he doubted Ziva had ever even driven as fast as he had to get there. He looked frantically around the waiting room, his heart dropping, tears filling his eyes. Ziva wasn't there. Was he too late? Oh please don't let him be too late! Just as he was about to go up to the receptionist and see if Ziva had been taken in, the lady in question came out of the restroom located off to the side. Tony was too well aware of where he was, to feel any sort of relief just yet, as he jogged over to his wife. "Please tell me you haven't done it yet." He begged.

"I am going to kill Abby," Ziva groused.

"Ziva?" Tony asked feeling frantic.

"No, Tony, I have not been taken in as of yet." She told him and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Listen Ziva…" Ziva glared at him and turned to walk away, if he thought he could waltz in here and order her out, he had another think coming. This was HER body, HER life and HER choice.

"Ziva please, just hear me out." Tony begged, grabbing her arm though not roughly, as she tried to shoulder past him. Ziva let out a long suffering sigh, but stopped and turned to face Tony. "Please, Zi, don't do this now. Please just give me the chance to talk with you about this, to see if we can't work something out that can make you happy with this. I am only asking for a few days, a week at tops, to make my case. If-If in the end you still want an abortion, I won't fight you, it is OUR baby but it is YOUR body and ultimately YOUR choice. But seeing as it is my baby too, please at least give me the chance to fight for it." Ziva stared at Tony with tear filled eyes. She did not feel guilty for what she had decided, but she loved Tony and if a week was all he was asking for, then she owed him that much.

"Alright Tony. One week. I will listen to you and I will try and help you to understand my reasons, but you have to promise me that after one week, you will NOT hold my decision against me." She said seriously. "This is not easy. I do not need you to make it harder."

"I won't Zi, you have my word." Tony said gathering her into his arms and holding her tight. Love relief, hope and compassion filled him up until he could hardly breath. The tears flowed down his cheeks unchecked as he tried desperately to formulate some kind of plan of action. He had his work cut out he knew, he just hoped to God he could convince her. Ziva let Tony cling to her taking the comfort that he needed. THIS was what she felt guilty for. She loved him and this was the one thing that she had wanted to prevent.

Tears again sprang to her eyes when she thought of Abby's betrayal. If she knew nothing else at that moment she knew that she was never going to forgive Abby for this. Never.

TBC


	98. Chapter 98

The Maudlin Muse here, again helping to write this chapter, but first I wanted to respond to a few of the reviews seeing as I can't really do that the regular way I thought I'd do it here.

JellyKate1- No, no miss carriage there is a way to work this out, in the end though, it is Ziva's choice and everyone else will just have to live with it the same as she does.

peppe1951- It doesn't matter that they didn't tell anyone, that has nothing to do with it. If Ziva wanted them to know she would have told them, it was for her to tell not Abby. Abby was wrong, clear and simple, however people need to keep in mind, Ziva told her something that is VERY upsetting and then left her to deal with the emotions on her own, while Abby should not have told, Ziva should have been a little more sensitive as well. She just dropped a bomb on her and left. Her decision here effects more than just her but it still is her decision to make.

Over all I would just like to say that I know abortion is a hot topic, but in the end here, it is the woman's body. By law Tony really has NO say in whether or not Ziva keeps the baby. The law recognizes a woman's right to chose and the father has no say in the matter. It may seem unfair, but no one should be able to force a woman to have a baby. Right now Ziva is worried about her job and her ability to keep safe. She feels being pregnant will make her weak and as a Mossad agent weak means death. She does not feel like she can keep herself and the baby safe from harm and she is so used to taking care of herself she doesn't even think about the fact that Tony would protect them both with his life. The two of them have a lot to talk about. But in the end, dear reader, do understand, it is always the woman's choice. No one else has any right, not Abby, not Gibbs, not Amber or Kim, not even Tony, to make the decision for her, or to judge her for a choice she felt she had to make. I myself do not agree with abortions and I do not think I would ever have one for any reason other than the baby and I would not survive and even then I dont know if I could do it. But I will fight to the end for a woman's right to chose for herself. What is right for me, which is to never have an abortion, is not right for everyone.

Okay, rant over, enjoy chapter 98

After you read this little note from me Chelsea...

I would just like to thank everyone who reviewed and alerted and waited soooo patiently for this chapter. God knows you had to wait long enough LOL. I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's long...which might make up a little for the wait :)

Thank you again to my lovely (if somewhat opinionated and bossy) friend who co wrote this chapter with me. I appreciate you fitting me into your busy schedule...Really :)

Chapter 98

OoOoOo

Tony kept his arm tightly around Ziva as they walked out of the clinic. He trusted that she wouldn't do anything for a week as she promised but part of him just didn't want her away from him. It made him feel better to have contact. And really, he felt a little betrayed that she was going to do this without even telling him. Was she just going to keep this HUGE secret from him forever? He never would have known that he had lost a baby... Then it hit him... Oh Ziva, why did she think she had to protect him? That she had to do this alone? He would have been very sad had she come to him, would have asked her to wait just as he had done but he also would have supported her decision to terminate the pregnancy no matter how it would have hurt him as he knows it would hurt Ziva too but that she would just be doing what she thought she had to do. He knows Ziva wants this baby because he knows his wife, he also knows that she doesn't see HOW she can have this baby and that it is hurting her as much as it is hurting him.

OoOoOo

As she saw Tony and Ziva walking out of the building, Tony with his arm around Ziva, Abby breathed a sigh of relief. Ziva hadn't been in there long enough for anything to have happened.

Putting her hand on her belly she said quietly. "I told you little McBrat that we'd save your friend. Well Mommy mightn't have been much help but thankfully Uncle Tony was." She said aloud, to the little person growing inside her as she started the car.

Ziva and Tony walked by her window and she smiled and waved hoping that Ziva would be happy with her change of heart, but the reaction she got rendered speechless, more than speechless, devastated. Ziva looked not AT her, but THROUGH her. Abby's blood ran cold and she thought she might faint. Never before had she felt that kind of cold hearted hatred directed at her, and certainly not from her best friend.

Tony started the car and took Ziva's hand. "Look I know that the boys and Dyl aren't supposed to be seeing each other, but I was thinking that maybe we should ask Tim and Abby..." he started.

"No." Ziva said. "They can stay with us."

"Yeah, I know they're grounded, but these are exceptional circumstances and I thought it would give us a chance to talk. In private." He said.

"No. The boys will not go to Tim's." she said.

Tony narrowed his eyes. Her leaving out Abby's name didn't go unnoticed by her worried and confused husband.

"Be...cause they're grounded? He inquired carefully.

"No. Because I never want them to be around Abby again." Ziva said in a cold detached voice.

"You can't mean that Zi, they're our best friends." Tony said.

"Were. I do not require much from my friends Tony but I do not think that trust is too much to ask for. I told Abby in confidence and she betrayed me. That I cannot forgive."

"How...what...who...how did she betray you Zi?" he asked.

"She told. She told Kim and Amber and I presume you." She said.

"No Zi, I don't know anything about Kim and Amber, but she definitely didn't tell me." Tony said. Why DIDN'T she tell me, he thought? He wasn't happy about that, but he'd give her the benefit of the doubt until he could ask her. At the moment he had more important things to worry about.

"She still betrayed me. Whether or not she told you is irrelevant. The fact that she told ANYONE at ALL is the point." She said.

"Did she say why?" Tony asked.

"Oh she had some over dramatic ABBY story about being UPSET and needing to TALK." She scoffed. "As IF she ever needed a reason or an EXCUSE to talk. It is what she does. I should never have imagined that our friendship meant more to her than the gossip." Ziva seethed, Abby didn't seem to get it. She didn't seem to understand how to keep confidence. If it wasn't part of Abby's grand plan it just wasn't important. Ziva found herself getting even madder. And Abby seemed to think she was some sort of problem she had to solve as if Abby had ANY RIGHT AT ALL to any say in Ziva's decision to keep or terminate the pregnancy. The only one that had any right to any say was Tony, Ziva recognised that now and she would give him his say. But Abby, this wasn't Abby's baby or Abby's body, she didn't get a say and she didn't get to judge!

It was pissing Ziva off that Abby seemed to assume a right to all those things that weren't hers.

Okay, Tony thought. Not getting in the middle of that one just yet.

"Ok. The boys stay home. We'll just have to stop at work and get them." he said. Ziva just stared out the window blankly so much emotion flowing through her it threatened to eat her alive.

Abby sat in the car with her head down, waiting for the blood to come back to her face. It was a shock, but she should have known that Ziva would react in some way to what she'd done. She only had herself to blame. They'd get past this. But at the moment for her own baby's sake, she had to focus on staying reasonably calm at least until she got back to NCIS. Tim would've come for her if she called but she needed time to figure out what to say. She took some deep breaths, wiped away her tears and brushed the hair out of her eyes before starting the car. She didn't know how she would make this up to Ziva, but she would find a way. Somehow. Wouldn't she? She honestly didn't know this time if she could.

It was about a quarter to four, when the elevator finally dinged and Kim trooped into the bullpen followed by the twins, Dyl, Maddie and Jess. As they both saw there Daddies, the girls sprung apart and picked another person to walk next to. Well in Maddie's case hobble. She had the one shoe and one sock problem still. Both of them were smart enough to know that they were still well and truly in the bad books. They talked quietly in the car about how they were going to score some points and possibly get out of their spanking, but so far neither of them could come up with anything that was good enough to achieve that pipedream. The other thing that they had to try and fix was being not allowed to sit together in class. They'd have to come up with another way to get the teacher to change her mind. Maddie was secretly thinking that she just wasn't gonna go back until she was allowed her old place back.

When Gibbs saw Kim, he raised his eyebrows. Kim understood the question that he was asking, but the miniscule shake of her head and the shrug of her shoulders, told him she didn't know much more than he did.

"I dont know all the details, and I... I can't tell you, it isn't for me to say." Kim had learned better than to lie to her husband but she also had enough tact to know a secret that wasn't hers to tell. She would not step over those lines and her husband would have to respect that. It was very private information and the fewer people that knew about it the better. She was keenly aware the she shouldn't even know about it and she felt a bit guilty that she did even if it wasn't her fault. She was actually a bit mad that Abby had told them, it made her question if she could ever trust Abby with a secret, and Ziva was her friend, she was angry for her, at Abby, for telling such personal things. She and Amber had agreed to mention it to no one else the secret had travelled far enough already and Tony and Ziva needed to time to work this out on their own, they deserved the privacy to do such without everyone knowing. And they couldn't work things out well and truly for themselves with everyone putting in their two cents worth.

Gibbs frowned but left it at that, too many big ears in the room now anyway. Besides, he was kind of proud of Kim, she neither lied nor told busyness that was not hers to tell. Sure he didn't like that she wouldn't tell him but he respected it. If it wasn't her news to tell she shouldn't be telling it, not even to him and he loved her all the more for being a good friend.

"Miss Maddie!" Gibbs said as he settled his already present frown on his little girl. "Did you manage to stay out of trouble for the last couple of hours of school?" he asked, managing to keep the smirk that was just buried beneath the surface of his stern look hidden.

"Yes Daddy." She said trying to smile. It was pretty hard to smile when YOU knew that everyone else knew you were in trouble and you were gonna get a spanking. It was like they were all waiting to see what would happen next. Well that's what she thought anyway. In point of actual fact, the older boys couldn't have cared less that Maddie and Jess had been in and were still in, trouble. Sure they had found it amusing when it had gone around school that the girls had had their class in an uproar, but hey only for five minutes. It was old news now. They had more important things to deal with.

"Where's Mom and Dad?" Kyle said. "I'm starving!" Gibbs looked at Kim and rolled his eyes as he started rifling through his pockets for change. Tim quickly caught on too, and jumped on this much needed distraction and started hunting for change as well. Kim went through her purse. In a few minutes, they had amassed a small pile of change for the vending machines. "Alright! Kyle said, his face aglow with excitement at the prospect of feeding the junk machines with all that spare change.

"Sit!" Gibbs said. "You're all still in trouble, we're not having a picnic here. Start your homework and Aunt Kim'll go and get you all some snacks. In the mean time, unless you need the bathroom, start your homework. ALL OF YOU!" he said raising his voice to make them move. It worked, all of them scrambled around finding a desk to sit at to do their work. The place was a flurry of activity as backpacks were emptied and books and pencils were laid out. Granted not a lot was actually done, but the preparations were well under way. Well they were underway until Kim arrived laden with chips and chocolate bars from the vending machine.

"Yay!" the kids all yelled at once. Gibbs raised his eyebrows disapprovingly.

"Don't look at me!" Kim said with a smile. "That machine is not exactly health food city. There aren't a lot of great healthy snack choices in there." Tim shrugged. She kind of had a point. Still they could try and keep a little decorum here, they were like a pack of wild animals that had never seen food.

"HEY!" Tim yelled. "SIT Down or you won't get anything." He and Kim passed the kids each a packet of chips and a chocolate bar."

"What about a drink?" Dyl asked. Tim gave him warning look. "You know what, I'm just gonna use the water cooler."

"Uhhuh." Tim said. "Great idea. Glad you thought of it." Dyl popped a chip in his mouth and then finally put pen to paper, thought it might win a few brownie points if he actually did do his homework.

"I'm not asking for anything Daddy." Jess said sweetly, actually over sweetly.

"I'm just happy that we got snacks at all." She said smiling.

And Eddie Haskell has joined us as well Gibbs thought. Not gonna help her any.

Tim didn't look overly impressed. The truth was that he hadn't even heard her, he was actually getting really worried about Abby and couldn't even imagine what the hell was going on. Where WERE they all. Where had Tony rushed off to and why had Abby been so upset. Even Ziva had disappeared seemingly from the planet. He didn't have to ponder much longer though thank God, as the elevator opened and Tony stepped out.

"Thanks for watching them everyone, boys hustle, we have to go. Your Mom's in the car and she doesn't feel too good." He said as he started to throw the boys stuff into their backpacks. The others looked on curiously, this was a very un-Tony like thing to do.

"Ziva ok?" Kim asked. Tony could see the genuine concern clouding her eyes and the look of confusion and worry on Tim and Gibbs faces. There was nothing he could do if he wanted to shield his boys so he tried to answer Kim as cryptically as possible. "Just a little tired and headachy" he said. "No real damage."

Kim breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ah Tony? Where's Abs?" Tim asked nervously.

"She's...she drove her own car back. I thought she'd be up here with you. I stopped to get some headache stuff for Ziva on the way back." he said.

"Oh Ok. She must have gone back to the lab. Come..." he started, but Tony interrupted.

"Don't take the kids. You should go and talk to her alone." Tony said. "I think maybe...the hormones are getting to her again maybe."

Tim looked up at him his face suddenly etched with concern.

"Yeah...right." he said as he headed for the stairs, not even bothering with the elevator.

As Tim walked from the stairwell to the lab entrance he nearly turned and walked away. All the lights and machines were turned off and there was no music, to all intents and purposes, it looked like the place was deserted. Then just as he was about to open his cell phone and find out exactly where Abby was, he heard her quiet sobs. If the lab hadn't have been so deadly silent he never would have even heard her strangled little cries. Rushing through the lab and into her office he dropped to the floor and gathered her into his arms.

"Shhh Abs. Tell me. You can tell me now, I'm here." He said as he rocked her tenderly.

Abby tried to speak, to explain, but her thoughts were rolling and jumbling in her mind and when she actually verbalised them they came out rushed and confused, her sentences broken with intermittent sobs.

Tim inside was a ball of panic, but he knew that what she needed from him was the calm and centred Tim that she could rely on.

He lifted her out of the chair and carried her over to the futon where he laid down taking her with him so that he could hold her tight in his arms. Her back was against him so that she was able to lean back into his loving embrace. They stayed like that for a very long while, Tim tracing lazy circles up and down her arm while he waited patiently for her sobs to ease. When they had become nothing more than a few hitched breaths, he turned her to face him.

"Do you think you can talk now Abs?" he asked gently.

She nodded and opened her mouth but nothing came out. She cleared her throat and tried again.

"Timmy, I'm a terrible person...and...now Ziva hates me." She said.

Tim was shocked. He never imagined this being the problem.

"I don't understand Abs, why would Ziva hate you?" he asked disbelievingly.

"She had a really good reason Timmy and I don't blame her. I hate me too." She said bursting into a fresh bout of tears. "I...I betrayed our friendship." She said.

Tim would have laughed at her dramatics if she wasn't as completely devastated as she was. But this wasn't the time.

"What happened Abs?" he asked tenderly.

"That's just it Tim!" she said desperately. "I can't tell you. I can't tell anyone else and I don't care if you spank me ever and over and I don't care if you use the belt, 'cos I can't tell another person. I was wrong to tell anyone in the first place, and it would be wrong for me to tell you. It'd only make it worse. It's for Ziva to tell not me." Abby told him, she thought just maybe that lesson was finally sinking into her head. She would learn from this, she had too. The terror of losing her best friend really drove it all home to her.

"Abs, honey, I'm not gonna spank you with my hand , my belt or anything else. If you say you've got a good reason for not telling me and it's not your secret to tell then that's ok. But I do want to help you. How can I help you Abby?" he asked.

"That's just it Tim. You can't... No one can. I made this mess and I need to find some way to fix it... the only thing I can think of is to never, ever do it again. I just hope Ziva will forgive me and some day tust me again" She said once again breaking her heart.

Tim really didn't know what he could do but hold her, so that's what he did, until she felt as though she was finally up to facing the kids.

"I'm ok Tim." She said some time later, her voice husky with raw emotion.

"You sure honey?" he asked.

"I'm fine Tim. Really. I just want to get the kids and go home. But Tim? I don't feel like seeing anyone. Can I meet you at the car?" she asked.

"Sure Abs.' he said, worried about whatever this big secret was that seemed to be weighing Abby down. "I'll get the kids and be right with you."

By the time Tim got back up to the bullpen, Everyone but Gibbs, Jess and Dyl were gone. Kim had gone to return the van and collect her own car and Gibbs was finishing up some paperwork while he waited for Tim to collect the kids. When he heard the elevator his head shot up and brow wrinkled when he saw that Tim was alone.

"Abs is not feeling very well, she's gone to the car. Can I have a quick word?" He said looking at Gibbs meaningfully and then turned to the kids and did his best impression of a reassuring smile. "Kids, Pack your stuff up and then sit and wait. I'll only be a minute."

The adults walked over to where they could still see the kids but were out of earshot.

"What the hell's goin on?" Gibbs asked brusquely. Tim shrugged his shoulders and tried to explain, using the limited information that he'd been given.

"Don't really know Boss. All I know is the same craziness that you know, plus the fact that Abby is really upset. She seems to think that Ziva hates her because she betrayed their friendship." He said in hushed tones.

"How?" Gibbs asked.

"Um... she wouldn't tell me spacifics and I'm not pushing. But what I gather is she told someone something that was Ziva's secret... I was downplaying when I said she was upset. She's devastated. She can barely string words together. This big secret can stay that way especially if it's all gonna be made worse if it comes out. But I'm worried, about her and the baby. This can't be good for either of them." Seeing the absolute truth in Tim's words Gibbs scrubbed his face with his hands and then patted Tim's shoulder.

"It'll all work out. You just look after Abs and let Tony look after Ziva. If they don't work it out in a day or so then I'll damn well make them work it out. They'll be ok." he said reassuringly. Tim took a deep breath and nodded. "Besides, we have two wayward little girls in serious need of a wakeup call who we need deal with."

That made Tim smile a little simply because Jess and Maddy needing a wakeup call was so comfortingly normal.

"I haven't forgotten. Can you believe those two?" he said. This time Gibbs actually did smirk. Well a little. Out of the corner of his mouth.

"Yeah...One of their better efforts." He said.

When they got home Ziva went straight up to the bedroom and Tony started dinner. Trying to distract the boys from the mess that seemed to be engulfing their little family, he assigned them kitchen duties. Michael was happily washing salad vegetables in the sink while Kyle was supposed to be unpacking the dishwasher. Predictably he was alternating between complaining and messing around. He picked the wrong night though as his Dad was a little on edge. Still trying to come up with a way to help Ziva want to embrace the thought of being pregnant. He wouldn't force her. He wouldn't even try to change her mind if that's what she EVENTUALLY decided, but he needed to break down that wall that she had up at least long enough for her to see how it could be.

Tony was jolted out of his thoughts by a loud crash as Kyle dropped three plates that he'd been trying to juggle. Michael giggled. "He was doin good with two. You have to be a real juggler to juggle three." He said. Tony sighed and swatted Kyle on the bottom.

"Take what's left of the plates and set the table, genius will ya?" he said grumpily as he proceeded to clean up the broken pieces of plate that were now scattered all over the kitchen floor. "And place them down don't throw them down." Kyle grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry. Could've been worse though. I could have been juggling knives. Then I could have been seriously injured." He said.

"Mmmm. Yes you could and not just by the knives." Tony said. "I'm going upstairs to see how your Mom's feeling. Behave Kyle." Kyle clutched at his heart and dropped to his knees dramatically.

"I'm seriously hurt." He said in a mock pain filled voice.

"Yeah keep it up wise guy and you're gonna be in a world of hurt." Tony said, disappearing up the stairs.

OoOoOo

On the way home on the car Abby was silent. She couldn't help it so she closed her eyes. She thought it was better for the kids to think she was just tired and dosed off than to sense that something was really wrong. Abby knew that she couldn't stay like this, that it was gonna start affecting the kids, all of them and Tim too but she couldn't help it at the moment, she just didn't feel like she wanted to be a part of this world. She had never experienced sadness like this and she didn't know how to handle it. She felt as though she was falling into a black hole and there was nowhere that she could grasp onto to save herself. All that she could think of doing was getting home so she could crawl into bed and pull the covers over her head and make the world go away for a while. The worst was, she knew this was all her fault, the pain she had caused Ziva and herself was her doing. She realized now that, though Ziva was wrong in not telling Tony, that she, Abby should have kept her mouth shut. The only person she, morally, should have told, was Tony, and he was one of the few he had not told. Even she could see how it seemed as if she was gossiping. She knew she was wrong. The only person entitled to know Ziva's secret had been Tony, and Abby had messed it up.

OoOoOo

Thankfully the Gibbs household was a little more upbeat, if that's what you'd call it. It certainly wouldn't have been described as quiet depression. Or quiet anything.

Gibbs rolled his eyes when he heard the raised voices as soon as he got out of the car. Then he heard a couple of distinct smacking sounds. Oh God, what's she done this time, he thought. He opened the door very stealthily so that he could hear exactly what Miss Maddie was up to. He knew that she often put on her good girl act for him. Well it wasn't totally an act but it was generally a better side than she showed her mother. As he stood back in the shadows of the darkened rear entry and listened, he was a little taken aback at Maddie's daring. There she stood hands on hips, apparently unfazed by the two smacks she'd just been on the receiving end of, answering back poor Kim who was looking decidedly rattled.

"Don't wanna go back 'til I can sit next to Jess!" She screeched "And I'm not gonna. I'll run away if you try and make me! I hate you! Daddy won't even know if you say I'm sick! My foot hurts and you don't even care. You used to be a nice Mommy but now you're mean, real mean!" Maddie picked up her plastic cup full of juice and drew her hand back preparing to throw it, but turned with her eyes wide with shock as it was taken out of her hand.

Once the drink was back down safely on the counter Gibbs sat in a chair and tossed Maddie over his knee. Flipping up her school skirt he pulled down her underpants, bared her bottom and spanked it hard. "I don't ever...slap...want to hear...smack...you speak...smack smack ...to your Mommy like that again." He said finishing with a hard smack before straightening her clothes and standing him in front of her. "It has been decided Maddie, you will go to school and you'll sit where you're told." He kissed the top of her head. 'Corner now. Ten minutes." He said sending her off with a gentle push. "And that wasn't your spanking for today's shenanigans. That was for sassing your Mommy."

Maddie narrowed her eyes and turned towards her Daddy about to say something, but her stinging bottom helped her to rethink that brilliant idea and she turned back to the corner and waited for the time to be up.

"Right you can come out now." Gibbs said. "Apologise to Mommy and give her a hug."

Kim accepted Maddie's hug and looked at Jethro and smiled. She had been handling Maddie much better on her own lately, but she had been distracted this afternoon and Maddie being the astute little thing that she was, jumped on that and almost got the better of her. Kim was grateful that Jethro had shown up and saved the situation when he did. She really wasn't up to dealing with Old Maddie tonight.

OoOoOo

Tony opened the bedroom door and found Ziva lying on the bed on her side. Her back to the door. He crept over quietly not wanting to wake her if she was sleeping, but when he reached the other side he realized that she was awake and staring into space. She wasn't crying but her cheeks were damp and she sniffled.

"Can I get you something?" he asked.

"No. I am fine." Ziva said.

"Ziva. You are anything but fine. I can see that and we will talk later, but for now until I can get the boys to bed..." Tony was searching for the right words. He was petrified that if he said the wrong thing, if she took something he said the wrong way, that it would all be over and it would be his fault, for not being a good enough father and husband to be able to know just the right thing to say, to save their child. He settled for now on the mundane. "Would you like some tea."

Ziva felt wracked with guilt for what she was doing to Tony. But at this moment she couldn't tell him what he wanted to hear so she too settled for giving him something to make him feel useful. "Yes Tony tea would be good."

He almost smiled as he raced down the stairs so grateful to be able to do something, anything to help, even if it was a miniscule thing it was something.

OoOoOo

When they pulled up in the driveway, Tim turned back to the kids. "Dyl go and ask Sarah what you can do to help start dinner ok? Tell her Mom's tired and not feeling the best." He said.

"Kay Dad." Dyl said wandering into the house.

"What can I do to help Daddy?" Jess asked in her sweetest voice. Tim gave her a pointed look.

"Nice try Jess. Go and wait in your room please. We have things to discuss." He said firmly.

"No fair." Jess said under her breath as she got out of the car and stomped into the house. Tim sighed and turned to Abby who had opened her eyes now but was staring blankly out of the window.

"Come on Abs, lets gets you inside. I bet you've hardly eaten anything all day have you?" he asked.

"Not hungry, just want to sleep." She said. Tim frowned. This was not Abby. Using clipped sentences and only when she had to. She was usually the one to put more words than generally humanly possible into a sentence. He almost felt like giving in to the panic that was starting to well up inside him but he knew that wouldn't help matters at all. He wasn't gonna let her self destruct.

"Oh well you'll have to force down a little something because both you AND little McBrat need food." He was half expecting a smart ass retort, even hoping for one, but it didn't come. He sighed. Well one way or another she was gonna eat, whether she felt like it or not. He crossed the driveway and opened her door and she let him guide her out and she even leaned gratefully on him as he led her inside and up the stairs. That was something at least. At least she was still willing to accept physical comfort. He gave her a hug before she climbed into bed. "I'll be back soon Abby with your dinner." He said firmly. Abby closed her eyes and as far as she was concerned, the subject.

Tim crossed the hall to Jess's room. As Tim opened the door, instead of the contrite little miss he was hoping to find he was faced with a pouty Jess perched on her bed with her bottom lip out and her arms folded.

"Lose the look Jess." He said. "You know exactly what you did wrong to earn this spanking."

"I did nuffin wrong 'cept I wanted to sit next to Maddie. I miss her!" she said now summoning up big tears to add to the mix. Like her Mommy Jess was sometimes defensive when faced with a spanking. "Nuffin is fair here anymore. Dyl still gets to be with Toby and the twins get to be together and Maddie and me don't. It's no fair!"

Tim gathered Jess up and sat her on his knee. "We're not talking about any of the boys. That's school stuff and it has nothing to do with me. But, if they weren't getting their work done I can guarantee you they would be moved too. You and Maddie talk too much and that's why you were moved." He said trying to explain. "You're just going to save up all the things you have to say until Recess or Lunch."

"There's not enough time to fit everything in." she said sadly as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"Sorry Jess, but the teacher's in charge. Any more trouble and you'll end up on detention again and then you won't even have lunch time. Then you'll get a spanking when you get home. And after all that, you still won't be in charge. It's not worth it." Tim told her.

Jess wiped away a tear and thought about what her Daddy had just said.

"Ok Daddy. I won't be bad no more. You don't have to spank me now. I learnded my lesson." She said trying to smile.

Tim hid a smile.

"Nice try Jess! You're just full of helpful suggestions today, aren't you?" he said as he turned her over on his lap. He lifted her school dress and brought his hand down with a hard smack.

"Ow! Daddy too haaaaaaaard." Jess yelled as tears really sprung to her eyes this time. "Noooooooooooo!" she yelled as another stinging spank landed on her wriggling bottom.

Tim kept spanking, doing his best to ignore her heart breaking pleas. When the yelling stopped and she started sobbing, he lowered her skirt and lifted her back onto his knee and hugged her tight as she clung desperately to his shirt and howled.

"Shhh. Come on Jess, you're ok. It's over now." He said soothingly.

"Hurt." Jess sobbed. "That hurt."

Tim kissed the top of her head. "Try and remember that next time okay? Because if you ever carry on like that at school again that's exactly what's gonna happen."

"Ok Daddy." Jess said with the sobs now dying down to a few hitched breaths.

"Do you wanna help with dinner now?" he asked. Jess wrinkled her nose.

"No fanks. I wanna stay here." She said. When her Daddy had left and closed the door, Jess opened her desk drawer and got out some markers and some paper.

She wrote a note for Maddie and it said.

_I's sad Maddie dat we cant sit togever_

_Bein lil suks_

_Luv Jess_

_TBC_


	99. Chapter 99

Thank you all for your reviews and alerts. And thankyopu for your patience. I know I don't have the chapters up as fast as I used to, but it was a hard pace to keep up. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Thankyou to The Maudlin Muse, for once again helping me to assemble my thoughts and teaching me to accept other people's points of view. Even if what you believe is the total opposite. I an also learning the art of patience. Sort of :)

Chapter 99

After dinner Maddie waited in her room for her Daddy. She wasn't looking forward to it. Her bottom still stung a little from the first spanking she got tonight. Hmmmmpff, stupid Miss Kelly making them move seats. This was all HER fault. All because she wanted them to do better work. Then just like that, a light bulb went on in Maddie's head. That was it! That was the way out. The work was the reason. All they had to do was not improve and they'd have to move them back right? What good would it be to keep them apart if they were so tragicically traumasised that they could hardly do any good work at all. Maddie could feel it coming on already, she didn't even think she could member any of her words. Not a one. And what cameded after ten...was it thirteen or fifteen. Mmmmm. Maddie grinned to herself, she was sooo happy that she'd found the answer, that she hardly even cared about the spanking until her Daddy opened the door.

Gibbs narrowed his eyes as he came through Maddie's door. Was that just a smile he'd seen as he opened the door. Admittedly she managed to wipe it off as soon as she saw him, but his gut told him she was up to something. He'd seen that devious little smirk before and it only meant one thing generally. Trouble,with a capital T.

"You up to something Maddie?" he asked as he watched her face for the answer.

"No Daddy. Just sitting here waiting for you. Just liked you asked me." She said with a nervous nod of her head. "I was bein good. You SURE you wanna spank me more now? Cos I think I learnded my lesson?" Maddie said charmingly.

"Nice try, but you know what you did today was wrong. Who's in charge Maddie?" he asked.

"Where?" she asked. Gibbs raised one eyebrow.

"At ...school. You know damn well who's in charge here and it sure isn't you." He said.

"Oh. The teacher is in charge at school." She answered pretending that she really didn't know what he meant.

"So whatever you're told to do...you do it. Quick smart with no complaints. Got it?" Gibbs asked.

"Yes Daddy." She said quietly, her mind was spinning trying to figure out if she could carry out her plan without getting into more trouble.

"Right, let's get this over with." He said as he lifted her over his knee. She had already had one spanking on the bare today, so he left her pyjama bottoms up. He still packed a pretty good wallop though and the first spank made Maddie jump.

"Owwwwwie!" she yelled before letting loose with her usual wailing. No one could do drama as well as his Maddie and she didn't disappoint as she kicked and screamed and wailed loudly through the whole eight hard smacks. By the time Gibbs was finished, which was probably not more that a minute, she was a ball of mess. That was Maddie, gets herself in a state over getting spanked but never actually tries to prevent one by doin as she's told. As he sat her up on his lap she buried her face in his neck and sobbed. He cuddled her tightly and rubbed circles on her back while he soothed her.

"Are you gonna be good now?" he asked. Maddie nodded her head solemnly but didn't actually speak. Luckily her Daddy didn't see her crossed fingers behind his neck.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

After the he and the boys had dinner and the homework and reading was done and the boys were in bed, Tony ventured into the bedroom with a tray for Ziva. He'd just made her a sandwich and another cup of tea and added some Tylanol. He didn't know if she actually had a headache, but he wanted to be prepared just in case.

"Hey Zi, I brought you a sandwich and some tea. Do you have a headache?" he asked I brought you some Tylanol just in case." He said. She shook her head and picked up one half of the sandwich and nibbled the edge.

"I am fine Tony." She said, hoping that by eating some of the sandwich she would reassure him of that fact. It did a little.

"Good. Then I think we should talk." He said. "I don't wanna push you Zi and I won't with regards to your decision, but I do have to push you to talk. We only have a week, and mostly only when the boys are asleep. That's not very long. Suddenly feeling her appetite drain away, Ziva put the sandwich back down on the plate.

"I do not think there's anything that you can say Tony." she said sadly. "Nothing that will make this right." He nodded.

"Ok. Then I think that you should start. Tell me what your reasons are for wanting to ...terminate this pregnancy." He said carefully, hoping he hadn't said anything offensive that would make her shut down.

"For a start, I do not WANT to terminate this pregnancy. I just can't see that I can go ahead with it without everything changing. My job means a great deal to me Tony. MORE than that. It is a part of who I am. If I am made to stop what I do, then I am sure that I will not be me anymore. I will NOT be happy. How can I be a good mother if I am miserable or depressed all the time. How can I create a happy home for my children under those circumstances?...I cannot. And the baby. Should I give birth so that I can leave it in a day care centre to be raised by strangers? Yes they are well taken care of but it is cold Tony it is not the same as having a mother to hold you. You know how my father was...is...Tony. I will not have that for my children."

"And Kyle and Michael?" he asked genuinely confused about the difference. "Why is it different for them?" He knew she loved the boys, so it wasn't anything to do with that. Ziva's eyes filled with unshed tears at the mention of her children. Early pregnancy hormones were making her sentimental, especially at the thought of her children. Her beautiful naughty boys.

"I love them, with everything that I am, and they are enough." She said. "It is different with them Tony. They are older, they have different needs. They have a life, school, friends... Then when they are not in school, they are at work with us. Playing, doing homework. Yes, they need supervision but they do not need our whole attention. A baby needs to have hands on love available to them all the time."

"OK." Tony said nodding his head. Zivas head popped up sharply.

"You agree with me?" she said startled by his easy acceptance. Tony gave her a reassuring hug.

"Not yet Zi, I just think it's enough for one night that's all. I wanted to know what you were thinking and now I do. For now that's enough. All I ask is that you'll keep the same open mind when I talk." He said hopefully. She didn't say anything but she nodded, she owed him that much.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

At the McGee household dinner wasn't such a success. Jess was cranky and uncomfortable in her seat which was making her fiddle with her food. It also left her wide open to Dyl's usual dinner time teasing session. Sarah could sense that something was really wrong and did her best to distract the other kids, promising them both a story at bedtime if they only would only give up the fussing and just eat their dinner. Entertainment was very light on since they'd been grounded so they both seized the opportunity and settled down. Jess looked around the table at each face and then settled on her Daddy. He was sad. She looked at her Mommy's chair. It was empty.

"Why's Mommy not eatin with us?" she asked looking right into Tim's eyes for an honest answer.

"She's doesn't feel very well and she's a little tired." Tim said dancing around the truth slightly.

"Can I see her after dinner?" she asked.

"We'll see." Tim said. "If she's not asleep Jess I'm sure she'd love to see you." Jess nodded and smiled a little. Her Mommy hadn't mentioned the trouble at school today. Could that be why she wasn't down here. Maybe she was so mad that she didn't wanna talk to her no more. A big tear rolled down Jess cheek. Sarah looked at Tim alarmed and not really sure what to say.

"You ok honey?" she asked. Jess nodded sadly but her lip wobbled.

"I miss my Mommy. I like her down here with us." She managed to get out before she burst into tears. Dyl looked unsure of what was really going on here but he had a feeling it was bad. Tim gathered Jess up into his arms and held her, sharing a look with Sarah over the top of his little girls head. A look that didn't go unnoticed by Dyl. He threw down his napkin and pushed out his chair and ran from the table and the room, all the way up the stairs until he reached his room. He was just about to go in when he heard soft crying coming from his Mom and Dad's room. Changing his mind, he crossed the hallway and opened the door quietly.

"Mom?" he said gently. Abby did her best to stop crying but she just couldn't.

"Dyl...I...I'm fine." She lied covering her face with the comforter.

"Is...is the baby ok?" Dyl asked shyly.

"Ye...s. The ba...by's...fine." Abby answered with a strangled sob. Dyl didn't ask anymore questions but he crept across the room and climbed onto the bed with his Mom and hugged her. Big tears slipped from his eyes as her as tightly as he dared. He was trying to understand what could have happened that had made her so sad. He almost wished that she would jump up and scold him and tell him to take his shoes off the bed. He'd never appreciated before how happy his Mom always was, until she wasn't.

Downstairs, Tim passed Jess to Sarah who cuddled her while she softly tried to reassure her that everything was ok. Tim went looking for Dyl to see if he was ok and to try and help him understand what was going on. Well a little at least. As he got to Dyl's room though he could see it was empty. Sighing, he looked across to where his own door was now open. He stepped inside and the sight before him really took the wind out of his sails. He walked over to the bed and said softly. "Dyl. Come on son. Kiss Mom good night and we'll go to your room." he said. "She just needs to have something to EAT and then have a big sleep. Don't you Abs?" Abby nodded but held her breath so that she could stay quiet while Tim led Dyl out of the room. Now she felt even worse. What the hell was wrong with her. Now she'd upset Dyl. She didn't mean to, she just couldn't stop crying. When she heard the quiet click of the door, she covered her head once again with the comforter. The only time she seemed to be at peace was when she was asleep.

Tim took Dyl over to his room and led him inside. He pulled him into his lap and held him as he cried. It was a rare occasion these days that Dyl found himself in the need of that kind of babying, but he felt like his safety had been not exactly destroyed but definitely shaken a little. His Mom was acting weird and staying in her room and his Dad was calm but quiet. Deadly quiet. Something was really, really wrong and it was scaring him. What if his Mom was really sick.

"Shhh. It's ok. Mom..." Tim said as he tried to think of the right words to explain. "When women get pregnant..." he started again.

"DAD! We did this!" Dyl said. Tim hid a grin at his son's obvious discomfort.

"No Dyl, not the same conversation at all. This is more about feelings. When a lady is first pregnant, their feelings get a little overloaded and they can't help it. They get sad and then happy and then sad again. Sometimes they even start to cry and then can't stop. It's normal." He said. Dyl looked up into his Dad's face and then smiled.

"You promise?" he said, his eyes now shining with hope instead of tears.

"I promise." Tim said. He felt bad telling a lie like that but needs must and by Dyl's reaction just now, it was what he needed to hear. Besides what else would he have told him. There's no way that he could even tell him half a story without revealing some of the messy truth. Not even HE knew what that was totally. Nah...it had to be this way.

As Dyl was happy to read his book, Tim went down to try and explain now to Jess why it wouldn't be a good idea to wake her Mommy. When he walked into the kitchen, Jess hopped off Sarah's lap. "Is Dyl ok now?" she asked.

"Yeah honey, he's fine." Tim said.

"Good. Can I see Mommy now?" she asked hopefully. Tim took her hand and started to walk towards the stairs.

"You know Jess I'm not sure that would be such a great idea. Mommy's not feeling the greatest. Happens sometimes when Mommies are first pregnant. Their feelings get a little mixed up. But you know what?" Tim said, trying the his last fall back, the art of distraction. We're gonna get you ready for bed and then you can pick any book off your shelf and I will read you two chapters and then Sarah can read you two chapters. How about that?" Jess tried to smile. She was little but she wasn't silly. Something wasn't right here and when parents started to be EXTRA nice it meant something REALLY wasn't right. Jess knew what she had to do. She had to talk to Dyl. He would tell her the truth. She just hoped that it wasn't what she thought it might be.

Tim read his two chapters and then he kissed Jess who was quiet, but had stopped asking for her Mommy, so Tim assumed that she had accepted his explanation and left it at that.

"Ok sweetie, I'll get Sarah for you." He said as he kissed the top of her head.

"It's ok Daddy. I don't want any more story tonight, I'm tired." Jess said with a yawn.

"If you're sure." Tim said. He pulled the blankets up around her neck and tucked her in. He was eager to get to Abby. He was determined that she was gonna eat something if he had to hand feed her.

When Tim had gone downstairs to fix some soup for Abby, Jess crept out of her room and into Dyl's. He was in bed but reading still. He looked up as his sister tiptoed towards him. She stood at the side of his bed just staring.

"You're creepin me out Jess! What's wrong?" he asked with irritation. Then seeing the tears form in her eyes he felt bad and tried to be a little more gentle. "Is this about Mom?" Jess nodded sadly.

"She's fine Jess." He said. "I saw her before and she was crying but Dad says that's normal. You know cos of the baby and stuff." Jess face crumpled and she burst into tears. Dyl looked worried. He really was trying to make it better not worse. "What?"

"She saw YOU." She said sadly. Dyl scooched over and made room for his sister on the bed. She climbed in and laid her head on his shoulder. Dyl really didn't know what to say, he didn't wanna make it worse so he did what the adults did. He tried distraction. "I'm readin anyway. I'll read out loud ok?" Jess nodded and listened quietly. She didn't have a clue what Dyl was reading about cos it was in the middle of the book, it was just nice to not be alone. She was lost in her own sad little thoughts anyway. Nobody had to tell her why her Mommy was sad. She knew. It was her. That's why she sawed Dyl and not her. Her Mommy was so mad about her bein bad in school yesterday that she didn't even wanna look at her no more. And she was cryin. That was her fault too. She buried her face further into Dyl's arm and tried not to cry. Dyl shuffled a little uncomfortably but didn't have the heart to tell her to move. Truth was he felt a little sorry for Jess and he didn't really mind her cuddling up to him. He was just pleased that none of his friends could see.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

A little while later Tim stood outside his bedroom door holding the tray and psyching himself up for what may become a bit of a battle.

Abby could hear the door rattling open and the clinking of things on a tray coming towards her. She really just wanted to be left alone. She clung onto the comforter knowing instinctively, and from some experience, that they were about to be pulled from her face. Right now she didn't want to face anything. She did really feel sick in the stomach and her head hurt a little and her brain felt foggy. With the last ounce of determination she had she clung onto that comforter with all her might. Comforter, an apt name for a blanket really. It WAS such a comfort. It was soft and pudgy and warm. It could protect you from the cold or hopefully interfering husbands that wanted to make you eat when you just wanted to lay there and block out the world and the sad facts. That your best friend hated you and you didn't blame her. That nothing was ever gonna be the same. No Sunday lunches with all the family around. Because how could they be a family without Ziva and Tony and the boys. And even if Tony managed to talk Ziva out of doing what she wanted to do, SHE would never be a part of this baby's life. She put her hands over her tummy to comfort her little McBrat. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. They were supposed grow up best friends. Like Jess and Maddie. And now she'd ruined it. She jammed her eyes shut when she felt Tim's weight as it depressed the bed beside her.

"Abby." Tim said firmly. "You have to eat something." Abby pulled the comforter around her head tighter. Tim grabbed hold of it with two hands and tugged. Abby glared at him.

"I don't HAVE to do anything McGEE." She said. Tim almost laughed out loud he was so relieved. A bit of her old spunk back. That's what she needed. Tim ignored the actual content of her words.

"Can you sit up yourself or do you need help?" he asked. Abby closed her eyes.

"I already told you I'm not hungry. I don't wanna eat. I feel sick and funny in the head." That if anything just increased Tim's resolve.

"All the more reason why you need to eat something." He said waiting patiently. "And not just for you. You have my baby held hostage in that body too." Abby narrowed her eyes at him.

"That was a low blow McGee." She said quietly. "Besides, embryos by definition McGee are parasites. They take what they need from the mother; it's the mother's nutrients that get drained not the babies." Tim nodded; he would never even try to argue science with Abby. There was no way he was even half a match in that department.

"And when did your health cease to be of concern to me?" Tim said not so much hurt as determined now. He was NOT gonna let her self destruct. They all knew this would fix eventually, but it might take time and she needed to get herself together for herself, the baby, the kids and him. "Abby we had a conversation a little while ago about discipline. Do you remember what you said?"

"Hmmmmpff. No. I forgot." She said bordering on pouting now. Tim smirked.

"Well...you told me that you needed me to be in charge and tell you when you're going too far. Consider yourself told." He said. Abby's eyes sprung open. He wasn't serious. He was gonna pull the spanking card? She chanced a look at his face. He WAS serious. He wouldn't...He probably would. Is that what she needed to bring her out of this funk she was in? Maybe. She didn't know. She didn't know anything anymore. She sat up a little and Tim jumped up and helped her. He placed the tray in front of her and she examined it with a wrinkled up nose. She stuck her finger in the soup. "It's cold." she said distastefully.

"It wouldn't have been cold if you had eaten it when I brought it up here Abs." Tim said. "Here I'll go and reheat it."

Coming back a few minutes later after a quick trip to the microwave, he placed the bowl back on the tray. Abby still didn't look that impressed.

She put the spoon to her mouth and then plopped it back into the bowl. "I can't Tim." She said. "It's smells awful." Tim's mouth was set in a thin line. She was pushing him and they both knew it.

"Fine. Then I'll get you a sandwich." he said. Abby sighed.

"Whatever." She said. He gave her a pointed look and kissed her. He was kind of grateful really, he'd rather have this Abby than the non responsive one. He went down stairs and made the sandwich and brought it back up. Abby lifted one corner and had a look inside.

"I really don't think I could swallow tuna Tim." She said pushing the tray away. Tim caught it before it got far and pushed it back. His eyes meeting hers in a silent struggle.

"Just eat the sandwich Abs." he said softly. She looked at him pointedly.

"I don't think I will." She said. He returned her look with a slight question in his eyes.

"You need to eat something." He said. "If you don't eat the sandwich, I'm gonna spank you Abby."

"I know." Abby said not meeting his eyes this time. Tim sat on the edge of the bed and patted his lap. She immediately crawled across and settled herself. He slipped a pillow under her head and lowered her pyjama pants. Tim started spanking quickly but not very hard he really just wanted to make a point here, but Abby obviously had her OWN agenda. "Harder." She said quietly, so quietly that Tim only just heard her. He frowned, but he did up the strength of his swats a little, not by much though, her bottom was barely pink. He just didn't want to overdo it. This wasn't really a punishment, more of a stress relief, or hell it was a bit of a wake up call. Abby spoke again only this time she was a little louder, and her face was not filled with the contentment that this kind of spanking usually invoked, but instead a clear look of frustration was sparking in her eyes. Tim upped the spanks a little more until they could be considered to be stingy at best. No longer able to contain her irritation, Abby tried to swing off Tim's lap, but he held on tight.

"Don't think so." He said. Abby actually rolled her eyes. This was the biggest breakthrough yet but an even better one was to come.

"What's the point McGee! " she yelled. "You spank like my freakin grandmother!" Tim started to chuckle at first, the euphoria of having his spit fire back again. Then he shrugged. Who was he to deny his pregnant wife what she needed, and she clearly needed this.

If the statement, 'be careful what you wish for' didn't mean anything to Abby before, it certainly did after that. The mediocre swats turned abruptly into a flurry of burning spanks that very quickly lit a fire in her backside. It was all Abby could do to catch her breath as Tim rained down smack after burning smack, turning her bottom an all over shade of deep pink. As the first sob caught her breath, he slowed again, not stopping completely but petering out until he could feel Abs calming and her breathing return to deeper and more even breaths. As the spanks finally stopped she crawled up into his lap and clung onto his neck. She whispered softly into his ear. "Thank you." Tim smiled.

"Ok, what would you like on your sandwich." He asked picking up the discarded tuna one.

"I LIKE tuna." She said taking back the sandwich and taking a bite. Tim shook his head. She might not be totally back, but at least he knew she was still in there.

TBC


	100. Chapter 100

I would just like to thank everyone for there wonderful reviews and for sticking with me for so long. 100 chapters. Sorry for the wait...again. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

A special thankyou to The Maudlin Muse who co wrote this chapter with me. I really appreciate your input hon and I'm sorry for the nagging...and the pleading.

Chapter 100

The next morning Tony woke to find the bed next to him empty. He sprung up and pushed back the initial panic he felt at her absence. He knew she wouldn't have gone and done anything without telling him. When she said he had the week he knew she meant he had the week. All panic drained immediately as soon as he saw her coming out of the bathroom dressed for work. She had dried her hair and tied it back and she even had even applied a little light make up. Her eyes narrowed though as she looked purposely in Tony's direction.

"I saw the look you had Tony." She said. "You can trust me. I will not do anything before the week is up." She said, honestly a little hurt that he thought even for a moment she wouldn't keep her word. He nodded.

"Sorry Zi. I know I can trust you, it wasn't that. After our talk last night, I thought you may have misunderstood what I said. That's all. I mean, I understand now your reasons, that gives us somewhere to begin and talk this through, I just thought that maybe you thought we had said all we had to say and... I now see what problems have to be worked out so that I can show you how it could be if you decide to have the baby."

"As I said, I will listen. But I cannot guarantee you that I will find your solutions as viable." She said.

"Then we'll see." He said smiling. "So you're going to work?"

"Of course." She said. "I am professional enough to not let this business with Abby affect my work." Tony sighed. God he hoped he was. And he hoped that Gibbs was gonna understand all this when he realised they kept the fact that Ziva was pregnant a secret. By rights she shouldn't be in the field. But he dare not even suggest that point to Ziva right now, or his case would be lost before it was even started.

"Can we leave this now Tony? I would like to have a normal breakfast with my boys. I miss them." she said. Tony grinned. Wow! That sounded like the best thing ever to him.

Over at the Gibbs' Maddie had got herself dressed and ready for school except for her long hair. While Kim was making breakfast, Gibbs took the opportunity to have one more word with Maddie while he braided her hair.

"Now tell me one more time Maddie, who's the boss at school?" Maddie rolled her eyes but luckily her Daddy didn't see her. She had a smart ass reply on the tip of her tongue but she wasn't entirely silly. Her Daddy had a hairbrush on the bed next to him. So she decided cleverly to go for smart not brave.

"Miss Kelly." She said.

"Good girl." He said. "And don't forget it."

"I won't Daddy." She said. It will be all her decision when she moves me back because I'm not learning anything, she thought. Cos she's in charge.

When the two of them walked out to breakfast, Kim immediately regretted her decision to allow Gibbs to do Maddie's hair that morning.

"Oh Jethro..." She said hiding a smile behind her hand.

Maddie's braid was kinda lopsided with stands falling out in different places and sticking up at others.

"What?" Gibbs asked, a crooked smile on his face.

Kim just chucked, "Come here, Maddie," She called in lo of answering her husband's question.

When Maddie walked over, Kim took out the braid, brushing the long hair with her fingers, she re did it in a flawless manor.

Over at the McGee's house, Abby surprised Tim by being up and dressed as well.

"I didn't know if you'd wanna go in today Abs." he said.

"I'm ok Tim." She said. "Look I really stuffed up, but the only way I can fix this is to face it. She's not gonna come here, so if I have any chance at all of fixing this, it's gonna have to be at work. When she's ready. But I upset Dyl last night and I feel bad for that. The kids need things to be normal, so until I'm fully ok, I can pretend to be ok." Tim nodded.

"Well at least I'll be there to give an eye to you and make sure you EAT." He said with a grin. Abby gave him a push but she had a twinkle in her eye. At least things were normal with her and Tim. She needed that.

When the twins came down to breakfast, they found their Mom back at the stove preparing it. Michael rushed over and hugged her with a big smile.

"Are you feeling better now?" he asked.

"Yes I am fine. Better for seeing you two...What no hug Kyle?" she said. He walked over and hugged her tight, pleased to have her back again. And glancing over at the waffle iron, REALLY pleased to have her making breakfast again. His dad couldn't make decent pancakes if his life depended on it.

Tony walked into the room dressed for work and poured juice for everyone. "Good how is everyone today?" he asked cheerily.

"Great! Now Mom's cooking again." Kyle said with a grin. Tony bopped him over the head with the newspaper and then sat down. Michael giggled. "Jeez, Dad, I love ya but ya pancakes are sh..." Tony narrowed his eyes at him.

"Finish that sentence at your own peril." He said, fixing Kyle with a glare.

"I was just saying... You burnt them Dad." He said. Tony wobbled his head.

"I tried. OK?" he said with mock hurt on his face.

The boys both giggled.

When Jess came down to breakfast with a brush in her hand hoping to find someone to do her hair, she jumped at the sight of her Mommy. Jess turned and tried to escape without Abby seeing her but Abby was too quick.

"Hey Jess!" Abby said. "Where you going? You want me to braid your hair?" Jess looked a little confused and she looked up the stairs, not really sure if she should go and find her Daddy or Sarah. Abby frowned. "What's wrong Hon?"

"I didn't think you'd want to do my hair." She said. "I thought you were mad...cos of yesterday." Abby continued to frown not really any the wiser. Then she remembered. Tim had gone to the school, there was some kind of trouble with Jess. Shit! What kind of mother was she, she was so wrapped up in her own troubles she hadn't even thought to ask. Well she better rectify that right now.

She went and sat down and put her arms out to Jess who ran across the room and practically leapt into Abby's lap.

"I wasn't well yesterday, Daddy probably didn't wanna worry me. How about you tell me what happened." Abby said as she brushed Jess's long blonde curls. Jess was shocked.

"You don't even know...what we did?" she said excitedly. Abby smiled.

"Don't be too excited yet Jess, you're about to tell me remember?" Abby said.

"Oh yeah." She said, suddenly feeling a little nervous. "Miss Kelly, don't want me and Maddie to sit together any more. And she told Maddie to move cos she said my work was better when Maddie was away."

"Oh. And I guess neither of you were very happy about that were you?" Abby said, nearly laughing out loud at the scenario she could just imagine when this news was delivered. She stopped herself though. "What did you do Jess that was so bad that Daddy had to go to the school?" Jess looked down. Abby tilted her chin up so she could see her face.

"We wouldn't move." She said. Abby's eyes widened.

"For Miss Kelly?" she asked. Please don't let them have pissed of Sister Mary Clarence again she thought.

"Yes Mommy, and the Sister." She said. Abby closed her eyes but when she opened them she realised that Jess had her uniform on so she mustn't be suspended. That was something at least.

"And are you in trouble at school?" Abby asked. Jess nodded.

"We have to stay in the classroom with Miss Kelly for three lunchtimes." She said tearing up at the thought. "And it isn't fair because I only get to see Jess at school and now I can hardly do that eiver." Abby looked at Jess seriously.

"Then you should have moved when Miss Kelly asked you Jess." Abby said. "You have to realise Jess that every time you do something wrong you'll be punished."

"Are you really mad at me?" Jess asked. Abby kissed her daughters plump cheek.

"Nah. It doesn't thrill me that you were naughty like that at school Jess. But I'm sure your Daddy took care of this already didn't he?" Abby asked. Jess nodded with big eyes demonstrating just how effectively her Daddy had taken care of the situation.

"Uhhuh. He sure did. It hurt." She said seriously. Abby hugged her tight.

"If Maddie has any bright ideas today Jess, remember that feeling." She said before standing her up in front of her so she could finish her hair.

A short while later the boys got out of the car at school and Tony and Ziva looked at each other. They made sure that they left a little early so there wouldn't be any awkward meeting with the others outside the school.

"You think we reassured them?" Ziva asked nervously.

"Yeah. They're fine." Tony said sadly. "Let's hope soon it doesn't have to be for show huh?" Ziva nodded. This all would have been so much simpler if she had been able to go through with this without anyone finding out...but what if there was a way? No there couldn't be.

Abby and Kim pulled up at the same time a while after Tony and Ziva had left. Kim got out of the car and hugged Abby. "You ok?" she asked. Abby shrugged and bit her lip. She was really trying here and she didn't wanna start crying again now.

"I have to be." She said. "It was my mistake, I shouldn't have said anything. I just needed to talk and I didn't think. But I'll find a way to fix it, I just don't know how."

"So she's not happy with you then?" Kim asked.

"That would be an understatement. She hates me." Abby said, trying hard to keep control.

"Hate's a strong word Abby." Kim said. "She's angry right now, and hormonal, she'll get over this eventually. Abby shrugged in defeat.

"I hope you're right." She said sadly. Kissing Kim on the cheek she opened her car door. "Better get to work." Kim stared after the car and shook her head. How did it all go wrong so quickly, she thought.

Maddie grabbed Jess's hand and pulled her into the school yard. "I have a GREAT idea." She said. Jess looked at her sceptically.

"Maddie, I don't wanna get in trouble again." She said anxiously. The last thing she wanted to do was upset Maddie, except maybe upset her Mommy again. And she didn't want another spanking. Maddie pouted.

"Don't be a baby Jess. Just listen first ok?" she said. Jess sighed but nodded quickly. "You won't get caught Jess, cos you're not really doing nuffin wrong." Jess tipped her head to one side. She really would have loved to believe her friend but Maddie always said that and they always ended up in trouble.

"Ok I'll listen before I decide."

"Well, Miss Kelly said we had to move cos she thinks we'd do better work not sitting togever right?" Maddie said excitedly. "Don't you see Jess? All we have to do is get stuff all wrong and then she'll see that we don't do better work when we're not togever. Then she'll let us sit togever again." Jess's face went red and she sucked in a breath. She hated to do this. Maddie didn't like when people didn't agree with her.

"Maddie, Miss Kelly already knows that my work is better now. It won't work." She said semi bravely.

"Come on Jess, it'll work if she thinks we're traumasised and we can't do anything right no more." Maddie said desperately.

"Sorry Maddie, I'm not gonna. They'll ring our Daddies again and I don't wanna get spanked." she said too scared to look at Maddie incase she was mad at her. "Are you still gonna be my friend?" Maddie stared at her friend in shock.

"Ocourse Jess! But I'm gonna do it anyway cos I think it'll work." She said not easily distracted from her own great ideas. Jess smiled. She really loved Maddie. She was about the bravest person she knew, well except for her Daddy...and Gibbs...and Uncle Tony...but then Maddie for sure.

The two little girls walked into the classroom hand in hand and took their separate seats. Miss Kelly was happy with their new attitudes today, there didn't seem to be any pouting happening at all. Jess was working away quietly and Maddie was smiling. She was happy to see Jess back to her easy to get along with self, but she was exceptionally happy now that Maddie's stubbornness had given way to acceptance of the new seating arrangements. Miss Kelly had been sure that it wouldn't be that easy. But later in the morning as she looked over the classes spelling from that morning she frowned. She should've known. Maddie's words were spelled not only wrong, but in some cases it looked like they were written in another language. The kindergarten class could print better. Miss Kelly shook her head and smiled. Two words for you Miss Maddie, she thought. Nice try. Talk about overkill.

A little while later when Gibbs picked up his phone, he took off his glasses and threw them down on the desk. Pinching the end of his nose as he listened once again to Sister Mary Clarence's haughty explanation of his daughter's misdeed. Tim looked up abruptly from his own desk as did Tony. They could both hear the Sister from where they were. Tim shook his head and prepared to leave with Gibbs. But when he hung up the phone, he sighed.

"Relax McGee. It's just Maddie and I don't have to go to school, the Sister just wanted to inform me of Maddie's latest attempt at control. Jess had nothing to do with it. Tim's face split in a wide grin before he thought to wipe it off his face. "Sorry Boss." He said out loud. But inside he was thanking God for his daughter finally standing up to the incorrigible Maddie.

Down in the lab, Abby's music was on but the volume was low as she pottered around her different machines trying hard to concentrate. In some ways she wished they had a case. It was always easier to focus when they had a case. But no, a case wouldn't be good. That'd mean that Ziva was out on the field. Out on the field without Gibbs knowing that she was pregnant. Not good. She was doing it again wasn't she. Not her business. Abby gave herself a mental shake and got back to her work. Sort of. It wasn't long though before her mind drifted back to the Ziva and Tony and the baby and Tony. Tony...was he speaking to her? She didn't really know. He hadn't spoken to her, but then he'd be looking after Ziva. Had she lost another friend? She didn't think she could take it if she lost Tony too. She'd been friends with Tony since...well before McGee...before Ziva. Nearly as long as Gibbs. What about Gibbs. Would he hate her too? What if he was mad because she didn't tell him. But she'd done enough damage by talking about it she couldn't risk doing anymore. What if they all hated her. What if no one wanted to talk to her at all and they were all up there fighting over who had to bring her evidence because none of them wanted to see her. And then Tim would bring it down but he'd have that look on his face. The one that said nothing but spoke volumes. Volumes about how much everyone all hated her. He wouldn't need to say the words because it'd be written all over his face. Abby's thoughts all jumbled up and although part of her knew that she was being totally irrational, the other part was frozen with fear at the thought of her family... her security, being sucked away from her. Abby clung to the desk as the room started to spin, sounds from her music becoming garbled as the sounds wafted in and out like waves. There was a faint buzzing in her head that increased slowly as the room began to darken and her skin felt cold, until there was nothing...

TBC


	101. Chapter 101

Thankyou all for your reviews and alerts and for your patience. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

I would also like to say a very special thankyou to my friend Maudlin Muse who wrote this chapter with me and who helps me to get my thoughts straight.

Chapter 101

Gibbs looked at his phone as it rang for the second time in the last fifteen minutes. He was almost hoping for a dead marine rather than another call from the Sister. Surely Maddie couldn't have done anything else in that short space of time. Snatching up the phone with irritation he barked into the receiver.

"GIBBS! ...Ok Duck...no... I'll tell him...Yes. I will...No I won't scare him." Gibbs hung up the phone and turned to the two expectant faces staring at him and then settled on Tim. It didn't however escape his notice that Ziva was not reacting at all. To this phone call or the other one. Or anything else for that matter. She seemed to be in a world of her own. Mmmm.

"Tim...now don't panic but that was Duck."

"Abby? What's happened?" Tim asked trying to stay calm but worried just the same. Actually worried didn't even begin to cover what he was feeling. If it was nothing, Ducky would have called him directly not gone through Gibbs.

"McGee!" Gibbs said. "Settle, she's ok. She fainted is all. But she bumped her head on the table as she fell. Luckily, Palmer was just dropping off some samples and caught her before she actually hit the ground. They have her laying on the futon in the lab. Duck's patched her head up but he thinks she should probably go home and rest." Tim already had his stuff packed and was on his way to the elevator.

"Look after her Probie." Tony called out to Tim as he disappeared into the elevator. He looked at Ziva nervously as the doors to the elevator closed. He really hoped that she didn't see his still caring about Abby as some kind of betrayal, but he couldn't help it. Abby had royally pissed Ziva off, and he got that. He knew that she felt that Abby had betrayed her. But Abby was family and he couldn't just switch off his feelings. Ziva and the kids would always be his first priority. All of them. What Abby did might seem unforgivable to Ziva but to him...what she did was out of concern for Ziva and the baby that he hoped with all his heart they got to hold in their arms, if only he could show Ziva a way.

Ziva blinked once which was the only miniscule sign that she was even aware that anything had gone awry. There is no way that she was going to admit to Tony, Gibbs, even to herself that she was in anyway effected by Abby. As far as she was concerned Abby had enough people to worry about her. She did however type a little faster, breath a little harder and the damn hormones were making her mind cloudy. AND she needed the damn bathroom AGAIN. Getting up and slamming her chair back with irritation Ziva walked off to the ladies room trying to look as though everything was normal. What WAS normal? She didn't even remember.

As soon as Ziva had disappeared down the hall Gibbs peered at Tony over the top of his glasses. "Wanna tell me what the hell's goin on?" he said.

"Don't know what you mean Boss." Tony said not able to look Gibbs in the eye.

"Like hell you don't. Your wife's pregnant best friend just got taken home after fainting and hitting her head, and your wife doesn't even look up from her desk. She's hardly said boo this morning to me or anyone else and she's just about worn a track in the carpet between here and the head. Now are you honestly telling me that all this is over a damn tooth ache?" Gibbs asked examining Tony as he shuffled things on his desk while he assembled his thoughts.

"Boss...if there's stuff with Ziva that you feel you have to know...you're gonna have to ask her yourself. I don't wanna be disrespectful here but there's too much at stake for me to betray her trust." He said sighing deeply. Gibbs narrowed his eyes at Tony as he assessed his demeanour. Realising that Tony was in fact deadly serious, and sensing that there was much more to this story, he decided to leave it for now.

"Fair enough." He said, despite being the leader of their team he knew he had not real right to information about their personal lives, though being 'family' and head of said family to boot, he was sort of hurt that they didn't trust him with whatever was going on. It was usually up to him to make things better, but if he didn't know what was going on, how could he help?

Back at school, Miss Kelly didn't give Maddie any hint that her spelling scores had even been noticed. They would handle that when her Mom and Dad arrived later to collect her. Sister Mary Clarence had asked Mr Gibbs if he would come with his wife this afternoon and he'd agreed. Both she and Miss Kelly had correctly assessed that the Daddy was the one that Maddie was most likely to listen too at this point, and after clearing things with Maddie's mother they had all decided he was the one they wanted to be involved until they had her settled again.

By the time that recess was over Maddie was pretty confident that Miss Kelly would have seen her mistake and that she would have been back on her way to her old desk. She was sorely disappointed though when she found her old seat still occupied by Josh. Maddie narrowed her eyes at him evilly as she passed by what she still looked on as her desk. Poor Josh lowered his head and shrunk a little into his seat. It wasn't his fault. He was just told to sit here. Why was she blamin him? Jess looked over at Josh nervously when Maddie had passed by. She felt a little sorry for him. No one wanted to have Maddie mad at them.

Maddie sat grumpily at her desk trying to think what she should do next. She was sure the spelling would have been enough. Next was number work. Mmmm, she thought. If only she could remember how to count. As she opened her book like the teacher had asked, she thought she would make her work look even worse by using a coloured pencil rather than a lead pencil like they normally used with their work now. Scrawling in what looked like her worst kindergarten writing, she scratched down all the wrong answers, even going as far as to write most of the numbers back to front. She amused herself even more by making a pattern with the coloured pencils doing every number a different colour. Well she had to do something if she couldn't talk to Jess. Didn't she? The little girl next to her smiled at her pretty colours. Maddie poked her tongue out. She wasn't in the mood for making friends. Besides, she only needed one friend.

Tim helped Abby to climb into the car carefully ignoring her irritated protestations that she was fine.

"I told you, you had to eat Abs." he said as he chided her gently. "And just because you can't have Caf-Pow anymore doesn't mean you can stop drinking altogether, you have to drink something else. Here." He said passing her a bottle of water with a look that brooked no argument. "Does your head hurt?" Abby rolled her eyes.

"I told you Tim, I'm fine. I fainted. I'm pregnant, it happens." She said quietly. Tim took her hand in his.

"I know. I just worry that's all, with all the stress and the crying and the not eating." Tim tried to explain.

"The baby'll be fine Tim. I love little McBrat too you know. I'm not about to let anything happen to it." She said.

"It isn't just the baby I'm worried about Abby. I'm worried about you. I know you said you had to pretend for the kids, but Abby please don't pretend in front of me. I need to know when you're ok and when you're not." He said giving her hand a squeeze. Abby smiled weakly. "I still don't even know what this is all about." He said putting up a hand. "And no, I know you don't wanna say and I'm not going to add to your stress by pressing you, but it makes it hard for me to help you."

"It's just that I'm scared that I'll lose everyone. I've lost Ziva because I told her secret and I'm scared that I'll lose Tony for NOT telling him the secret." She said talking somewhat guardedly to make sure she didn't say too much.

"Well I know that Tony's not angry with you Abs. The last thing he said to me before I left was 'Look after her Probie'." Abby's head spun around to face her husband's and she was sporting the first genuine smile that he'd seen since all this started. Thank God.

'You mean it Tim?" she said desperately. "He really said that?" Tim patted Abby's leg.

"Yeah Abs he did." Abby laid her head back and closed her eyes, a faint smile lingering as she let herself drift off for the rest of the trip home. At least that was something, she thought.

Back at the office Gibbs continued to quietly watch the interaction between Tony and Ziva carefully. What he saw only managed to increase his suspicions not put his mind at rest. Tony was acting...careful around Ziva. There was none of the usual teasing and banter that went on constantly between the two. No sneaky PM conversations on the computer that they thought he knew nothing about. Ziva was acting like she was in some kind of trance. She was doing her work, he couldn't fault her there, but it was like she was doing things by remote control. Her mind was sharp which made it easy for her to focus on what she had to, but there was no interaction really with anyone else at all unless it was about work. Still he supposed that a person that had been taught to withstand torture would be able to block out just about anything. DiNozzo though, was another kettle of fish, and he was clearly worried and not doing any kind of a decent job of hiding it. Something was up in casa DiNozzo and it was deeply affecting his agent. He was worried, his gut was niggling at him and it was becoming very hard for him to concentrate himself. It was taking everything he had not to call Kim and try to get some answers out of her, but he wouldn't do that. He was confident that he was manipulative enough, his interrogation skills good enough, that he could get answers from her without making her spill the secret on her own. However, he respected his wife far too put her in such a position.

Back at school the girls got through lunch with Miss Kelly without much trouble. Well not really. Miss Kelly had given them books to read, which Jess sat and perused quietly reading in a whisper. Maddie however sighed dramatically getting up every time there was a word larger than three letters to ask the teacher for help. Miss Kelly had to hide a smile, the child was nothing if not consistent. Well stubborn might be a better word for it. She decided that it might be best if she played along with her game.

"You know what Maddie? If this book is too hard for you, I think we maybe better try an easier level." She said reaching in lower shelf for the barely used lower grade books. "Here you go try this one." She said attempting to pass her a book with only a couple of words on each page. Maddie looked at her with huge eyes but didn't take the book.

"But that's a baby book." She said. Miss Kelly passed her the book again.

"Well honey if the other one I gave you is too hard, this one might be easier for you to read." Maddie took the book and walked back to her desk quietly, tears welling up in her eyes and threatening to spill over the top. Jess looked at Maddie as she turned from Miss Kelly she felt terrible for her, but why didn't she just tell the teacher that she was only pretending to not read. She knew this wasn't a good idea. Miss Kelly watched as Maddie folded her arms and pouted. Little devil she thought. "Go ahead Maddie and read your book please." Maddie begrudgingly opened the book and looked at the pictures. She felt like throwing it on the floor, but even she wasn't that brave.

At the McGee house Tim got Abby settled with some juice and a sandwich and then left her to rest while he went and took something out of the freezer for dinner. He had the freezer open when he thought of Jess and her efforts this morning. Tim was really proud of her for not getting involved in whatever Maddie had done that had got her in trouble again and without even knowing the details he decided that she deserved a treat. They'd have some kind of takeout and Jess could choose. If it was something that Abby didn't fancy, he'd make her something later.

Back at NCIS they continued to be bogged down with cold cases, and Gibbs did all he could to focus on the files and ignore his intense worry about what his agents were going through. It wasn't easy.

Finally afternoon came around and with it the arrival of his beautiful wife. He cringed. Not at the sight of Kim, but for the reason she was there. Once again Maddie had managed to do the wrong thing making it necessary for them to front the teacher. He just hoped that she hadn't continued to misbehave even further.

When they arrived at the school, they headed straight to Sister Mary Clarence's office. It didn't take her long to beckon them inside. The Sister couldn't believe the change in this woman as well as in Maddie. Admittedly they had hit a snag again lately, but the Maddie they knew now was nothing like the old Maddie really. This was just new Maddie with a wave of old Maddie running through her. As for the mother, well she actually seemed to be listening. She would even go as far as to call her reasonable. Gone was the woman who had been wrapped around her daughter's little finger, always trying to get them to understand the complexities of her special child. Her mouth dropped open as Mrs Gibbs smiled.

"I'm so sorry Sister. We'll make sure that Maddie really understands how badly she's behaved and you'll see a change in her tomorrow." She said. Gibbs looked at his wife with pride. He too was noticing how far she'd come.

"Thankyou. Both of you. We'll get there. Rome wasn't built in a day." Sister said. "Now perhaps you'd like to go down and collect Miss Maddie from the classroom and have a word with Miss Kelly."

By the time they were on their way to the classroom, all the other kids had been let out and they gave Tim a brief wave as he passed through the gate with Jess. Gibbs knocked on the door and was told to enter. As they walked into the first grade classroom, Maddie looked up from her desk and positively glared at Miss Kelly. She was shocked at the unwelcome sight of her Daddy in the classroom. Gibbs was horrified. "Hey!" he said. "Apologise right now Miss." Maddie could see that she was already in trouble so she swallowed her anger and did as she was told.

"Sorry Miss Kelly." She said quietly. Not fair, she was thinking. Just cos the work was too hard for her now the stupid teacher had told on her and she couldn't help it. She seemed to have conveniently forgotten that she was in fact acting like the work was too hard on purpose.

"Apology accepted Maddie." The teacher said a she gave Gibbs and Kim a wry look. "It seems that Maddie is suddenly finding all her work extremely difficult. She can't spell her words that she knew how to spell already, she can't remember how to count or write numbers and her reading has dropped back to a kindergarten level." Kim gave her daughter a concerned look.

"Oh dear Maddie, why do you think you're having trouble all of a sudden?" Kim asked. Maddie shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She shrugged.

"I think I might need to sit next to Jess again." She said hopefully. Gibbs smirked.

"Not happening Maddie." He said. "But I'll tell you what is gonna happen. You're going to apologise to Miss Kelly for messing her around today and tomorrow you're going to do your work properly. Because if I have to come back here tomorrow because you've suddenly had another lapse in memory and forgotten everything you've learned? I'll put you across my knee right here in front of Miss Kelly. Are we clear?" Both Miss Kelly and Kim hid their grins as Maddie nodded her head vigorously as she muttered.

"Sorry Miss Kelly." Her wide eyes nearly popped out of their sockets with the thought of Miss Kelly witnessing such an embarrassing situation.

"I doubt you'll have anymore problems." Kim said quietly.

"I know you won't have this problem again." He said. "Because Miss Maddie is going to be writing out all the work she got wrong tonight. Twice, while I watch her and that will be her punishment. Maddie scowled.

"That's too much!" she said.

"Then you should have done it right the first time." Gibbs said firmly. "You really want to argue?" Weighing her options quickly, Maddie shook her head. "Good. Let's go and let poor Miss Kelly go and do whatever she does to recover from a day in this classroom." Miss Kelly smiled. Now there was a welcome thought.

TBC


	102. Chapter 102

Thank you so much for your reviews and alerts and your patience. I hope you all enjoy this chapter :)

I would also like to thank Maudlin Muse for all her help. I hope she knows how much I appreciate her :)

Also thankyou to Gibbsfan for always checking up on me. I appreciate you also :)

Chapter 102

As they drove out of the school grounds Tim looked at the kids in the rear view mirror. "You know Jess I'm really proud of you for not getting roped in with Maddie today. You made a good choice and you deserve a reward." Jess's eyes lit up. She'd been feeling guilty about leaving Maddie in the classroom to face the trouble by herself but now she was happy that she'd made the right choice for a change.

"Really?" she said happily. Dyl rolled his eyes. Great! He thought. She doesn't even have to do anything good, just not do something bad and Dad makes her all special.

"Uhhuh. We're gonna have what ever you want for dinner." He said. Dyl's ears pricked up. That might work out ok after all he thought. He was thinking Pizza, Chinese... Jess was positively beaming.

"Can I make dinner Daddy?" she asked hopefully, her eyes were like huge bright pools that sparkled as she waited for Tim's answer. Dyl's face fell as his hopes for a night of eating bliss went flying out the window, replaced by visions of a mess concocted by his seven year old sister. A mess that he'd be forced to swallow for fear of insulting the precious Princess. Tim looked at the two faces in the rear view mirror and juggled his thoughts quickly before he answered. He did feel sorry for Dyl, even though he was being less than gracious, he'd been a big brother himself. But, he'd said that Jess could choose and he couldn't go back on his word now. Mentally reminding himself to have a word to Dyl later he answered Jess.

"Do you think you can think of something that doesn't involve the stove?" Tim asked. Dyl again rolled his eyes. Great. Dinner wasn't even gonna be cooked. They'd probably all end up poisoned and in the hospital.

"I thinked of something already." She said. Dyl folded his arms in a disgusted pout and stared out of the window, trying to push his hunger away. He was gonna have to fill up on snacks this afternoon if he didn't want to die of starvation in the night.

"Tell you what...Dyl is obviously not enthralled by all this dinner talk so we'll drop him home and he can start his homework and you and I can go to the supermarket and you can show me what you need." Tim said. Dyl discretely kicked the seat. Jess smiled sweetly.

"I promise it'll be good Dyl." She said as Dyl climbed out of the car. Dyl smiled back. He hated that. It was hard to stay mad at Jess even when he wanted to. He just hoped there was something in the fridge that he could fill up on now in case dinner was as gross as he thought it might be.

Gibbs sat in the passenger seat as Kim drove him back to work in silence. Every now and then he checked out Maddie in his rear view mirror. He squeezed Kim's hand as he got out of the car at work.

"You mind your Mommy. I'll watch you do your work when I get home. Ok?" he said.

"Spose so." Maddie said sullenly. Gibbs raised his eyebrows. Maddie straightened up. "Yes Daddy."

"Good. Cos I don't wanna have to spank you for being rude to Mommy." He said. Maddie looked out her window and Gibbs kissed Kim and walked inside, Maddie sighed. The time had come to admit defeat on this issue and both she and her Daddy knew it. So did a very relieved Kim, who sighed as well, not in resignation like her stubborn daughter but in relief.

Gibbs looked up from his paperwork over the top of his glasses to find Tony standing staring at him.

"Problem Tony?" he asked, hoping like hell that he was finally going to share what ever was bothering him.

"Could we have a word in private?" he asked quietly while Ziva was again on one of her trips to the bathroom. He indicated towards the elevator with his head and Gibbs stood up immediately and followed him.

As the doors closed and the metal box lurched into motion, Gibbs slammed the off button bringing the impromptu office to a halt.

"Something I can help with?" he prompted. Tony scrubbed his face with his hand.

"Boss...there's a couple of things you can help with." He said looking his boss in the eye. "Ziva and I, we need time off. A few days. We need some time to be together...alone."

Gibbs gave him the lopsided grin that he hoped covered the concern that had his head slightly spinning.

"Which brings us to the next thing. You want Kim and I to take the kids right?" he asked.

"Would you?" Tony asked carefully and then winced as Gibbs' hand connected with the back of his head. "what was that for?"

"For even thinking for a second that I might say no." Gibbs said.

"It's just...I can't tell you why." Tony said guiltily.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll be all blabber when the time is right. Besides, I've been wanting to spend some time with the twins and it'll be good for Maddie."

"Thanks Boss." Tony said gratefully. Now all he had to do was tell Ziva.

"Ah Boss...one more thi..." Tony started.

"Why don't you take your wife for a late lunch Tony." Gibbs said prempting the request that he knew was coming. "The boys can stay here with me. But if she doesn't already know you've made these plans...Make it a very public place. Where there's a lot of noise...and witnesses." He said smirking. Tony looked slightly alarmed.

"You don't think she's gonna like my surprise?" he asked sheepishly. Gibbs shrugged.

"Depends on what your secret is...and your delivery. It's all in the delivery." He said. Tony gulped and then straightened his jacket and did his best to bump up his confidence. He could do this. Always had had the gift of the gab and Gibbs was right, it was all in the delivery.

When the elevator reached their floor, Gibbs strode in to the bullpen and Tony lagged a little behind, He was ecstatic inside with half of his plans for some time alone to work things out with Ziva, but there was still the worry of getting her to agree to leaving the boys and going away and also the worry of what the hell he was gonna say to her when they got there. He didn't just want to get all heavy and try and convince her. He wanted her to WANT to have the baby. Mostly he wanted her to see that it was possible. And it was. He was sure of it. But first things first.

As he got to his desk, he realised Ziva's eyes were following him, concern etching her pale face. A she stood up, getting ready once again to go on a short trek, he hurried over to her desk and took her hands in his.

"Grab your stuff. After you've been to the head I thought maybe we could go to lunch." Tony said.

"The boys." She said quietly.

"Gibbs has offered to mind them." Tony said quickly, ready to shoot down her next excuse. Ziva had been about to refuse. She wanted nothing more than to tell him there was nothing that she felt like less. Sitting in a crowded restaurant with food in front of her that was hard to swallow with Tony's sad eyes looking at her from the other side of the table. Eyes that reminded her of how she was about to tear his heart out. But those same eyes were looking at her now and she couldn't deny him a simple lunch. It wasn't much to ask. Besides, much as she was trying to tell herself she was too upset to eat, she was starving. With a deep sigh she nodded and smiled, the plastic smile she had learned to paint on when necessary of late and picked up her bag and headed for one last trip to the bathroom before they went to lunch.

When Tim and Jess got to the supermarket he grabbed a cart and waited for Jess to stand on the end. She didn't, choosing instead to walk beside Tim scanning the shelves.

"You don't want Daddy to give you a ride Jess?" Tim asked. Jess wrinkled her nose and shook her head sending her braids swinging wildly around her face.

"No Daddy. I need to be sensible so I can choose everything I need to make dinner." She said. "I don't have time to play." Tim hid a smile and pushed the cart along sedately. He didn't say anything, instead opting to see just exactly what a seven year old thought were good ingredients for dinner. What she chose made him alternatively shrug, smile and grimace. He hoped to God some of these ingredients weren't going to end up on the same sandwich. Maybe Dyl was right. He was sure of one thing though. Some of this stuff looked like a pregnant woman's dream. After manoeuvring his way through the checkout, Tim paid and pushed the cart to the car and unloaded all the ingredients that were to become their dinner. MMmmm.

Kyle and Michael wandered into the bullpen from the conference room where they'd been doing their homework since their Dad picked them up from school. Looking at the two empty desks, Kyle looked at his brother and then back at Gibbs.

"Where's Mom and Dad?" he asked. Michael waited patiently for the answer.

"They've been busy today and didn't have time to eat. They've gone for a late lunch." Gibbs said with a reassuring smile. Kyle narrowed his eyes as he tried to determine if this was actually the truth.

"Dad said you were doing cold cases. Bit of a slave driver if they can't put the paperwork down for lunch?" he said. Oh yeah, Gibbs thought as he smothered a smirk. This kid was a smart ass of the highest order, definitely Dinozzo's kid. Michael though was quiet, he worried him. He'd handle a naughty smart ass kid any day, he knew what to do with him. But the quiet sensitive ones like Michael; he didn't really know how to reach. But...it was time he learned how. Yep. Minding the boys could prove to be beneficial to all of them. Speaking of which maybe he should tell Kim. He picked up the phone and then realised two faces were watching him expectantly.

"So you two hungry?" he asked. Both the boys grinned and nodded. Fishing in his pocket he grabbed out some money and handed it to the boys. "Go raid the machines. One snack and one drink each ok?" After thanking Gibbs they hurried off in the direction of the vending machines chatting happily about their choices, for the moment, the worry of their parents disappearing act forgotten.

As they slid into a booth at a local diner, Tony smiled at Ziva across the table. He had chosen this place for a reason. Even though Gibbs glib advice had been given humorously, there was some truth in the fact that he would definitely be safer where there was people. Lots of them. And noise.

"So Tony. You would like to tell me what all this is about?" Ziva asked getting straight to the point. She had not been with Tony for this long without learning to read him a little. Well a lot really. Tony looked away and then back at his wife again searching for the words to tell her what he'd planned. She waited.

"Um Zi...look I don't know how you're gonna feel about this but I've asked Gibbs to give us both a few days off and to mind the boys. I know you wanted to keep the boys with us...but... If we only have a few days to talk...we need to not waste it. It's too hard with the kids around and having to go to work. So I think we need to go away and spend some time with just the two of us." He said. As the last words were out of his mouth he felt like closing his eyes, too scared to see what her reaction would be. He did for a brief second, but when he opened them he was surprised. Ziva was still sitting opposite him and there wasn't a plate hurtling towards him, in fact she didn't even look angry. Quite the opposite in fact. She looked relieved.

"I think it is a good idea Tony. Until this is settled...I ...I am having trouble concentrating. I am tired. I need a break." Ziva said, finally giving in to the pressure she felt at constantly trying to keep up the facade of everything being normal. It was not and it never would be until they settled this once and for all.

When Tim and Jess arrived home with the groceries, he placed the bags on the table and started to unpack them.

"NO Daddy!" Jess said alarmed. "I can do it."

"Ok, ok. I'll just put away the milk and I'll leave you to it." He said. "Do you need some help to set the table?"

"No thankyou Daddy. But will Mommy come down and eat too?" she asked. Tim smiled.

"I'm sure she wouldn't miss it for the world." He said closing the fridge and making for the stairs. "Remember, no sharp knives and no stove."

"Yes Daddy." Jess said patiently, wishing he would just go and leave her to her cooking. Tim came back and kissed her cheek before disappearing up the stairs to see Abby.

An hour later found Jess in the middle of the kitchen in the centre of an even bigger mess. But she didn't even notice, she was sooo engrossed in the feast that she had put together for her family. She had made lots of sandwiches. Sandwiches of every kind. There was peanut butter and jelly, and cheese and turkey and some kind of mustard that she thought her Daddy would like. She'd bet that Ducky would've liked it too if he was here. It was English. That's what it said on the jar. Hot English. Mommy buyed it for when everyone used to come for lunch on Sundays. So she knew it must be special. That's why she put it with the turkey. Lots of it to make the sandwiches special. She wasn't silly. She knew that grownups didn't always like the same thing as kids. She just left the cheese by itself. What could you put with cheese anyway. Nuffin that you could do without a knife or the stove. The peanut butter and jelly tasted good. She tried it. It was a bit messy to make but it was how it tasted that counted right? But the most ever special sandwich was the one she'd had at school. Jess had never tasted such a yummy pretty sandwich EVER. It was Hannah's birthday and she'd brought enough to school to share with the whole class. Her Nanny made it. She was from 'stralia. She said that kids eat it for parties there all the time. Jess had had a lot of fun making it but it'd made the most mess.

She buttered the bread and laid it out on the table in rows. Unfortunately when she'd tried to dig hole in the packet of nonpareils with the blunt knife she was allowed to use, it had burst open and the tiny sweet colourful balls had burst out of the packet and gone all over the table and the floor. Jess loved these sprinkles cos they were different than the the long ones she had on ice-cream. Unfortunately, since they was little balls they rolled all over and were hard to clean. Fortunately, she had got control of the packet before they were all lost and she poured the remaining sprinkles all over the buttered bread, marvelling at how pretty the finished product looked. Whoever thought of calling it fairy bread was really smart, she could really see fairies eating these sandwiches for their dinner.

After surveying her work proudly, Jess set the table with glasses and plates. She didn't worry about the knives and forks as they didn't have to cut anything. The table was decorated with a lovely vase of weeds from the garden. She carried in the platters of lovingly made crooked and smashed up sandwiches and placed them on the table proudly and then went upstairs to call the family to the table.

After discussing the finer details of their trip away and when they would drop off the boys etc, Ziva and Tony came back to the office. If they weren't looking back to normal they were at least looking a little more at peace. Gibbs smiled. If they were back then he was free to go. Raising his eyebrows to Tony, he waited. When he nodded Gibbs grinned. Best go home and tell Kim about the twins coming to stay. And Maddie. That could go either way he thought. He almost felt sorry for Kyle and Michael. God knows what was in store for them where Maddie was concerned.

As Tim and Abby and Sarah and Dyl followed Jess down the stairs they were all stunned at the site of the table. Sarah smiled. Jess really was sweet and she'd gone to alot of trouble to prepare this...this...these sandwiches. The colourful ones looked interesting Sarah thought.

Tim had to take a big breath and hold it to stop himself from laughing. The table looked like one of those kids' shows where the kids have to eat food while blindfolded and guess what it was. It'd have to be a pretty big prize for guessing what some of this stuff was.

Abby had to brush the tears out of her eyes. She had never been so touched as she was at the sight of all that food that had been lovingly prepared by her baby and laid out carefully for all their delight. Jess was special, that was for sure, Abby thought. And you know, those colourful pieces of triangular shaped bread looked really good. She couldn't wait to try one of those.

Dyl rolled his eyes as he desperately searched the table for something that might actually be edible. His eyes latched onto the turkey. They don't look half bad, he thought. After all what the hell can you do to turkey sandwiches right? Famous last words. What in the hell was the bread with the sprinkles on? He shrugged and shoved a piece into his mouth. He nodded. "No...bag Jeth" he said as he attempted to talk with his mouth full. The light cuff on the back of his head reminded him to empty his mouth before continuing. But before he finished what he was saying he picked up another two pieces. "These are great Jess. What are they?" he asked.

"They're fairy bread." Jess said proudly. Dyl threw the pieces in his hand back onto the platter.

"Hey!" Abby and Sarah said together.

"Pick those back up Dylan and use some manners please!" Tim said. Dyl screwed his face up.

"I'm not eating fairy's bread." He said. "I knew I'd be forced to have something gross."

"It's not gross." Jess said hurt that Dyl had rejected her masterpieces. Abby smiled and pulled her into a one armed hug.

"No honey the fairy bread isn't gross. I love it." She said as she popped another piece into her mouth.

"Me too Sarah said as she too bit into her second piece." Dyl looked at them enviously. The bread really was great. Why'd they have to go and call it a girly name like 'fairy bread'. There's no way he'd eat that now. He snatched up a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and then dove for a napkin as a glob of jelly dropped out of the sandwich and ran up his arm leaving a sticky trail. He wiped off the big glob and then in a feat only possible for a nimble young person, he licked his arm clean. Sarah gave him a shove.

"Now that's gross." She said in disgust.

Tim ate a token piece of the fairy bread and smiled broadly at Jess.

"These are delicious Honey but we can't let the turkey go to waste can we?" he said as he took a another crooked sandwich and took a generous bite. Abby's eyes nearly popped as she noticed the look of horror and pain on poor Tim's face.

"Did you use Ducky's mustard on the turkey Jess?" she asked.

"Uhhuh. I wanted to make it special." She said eyeing her Daddy curiously. His face was all red. So were his eyes and he seemed to be sort of choking. "Are you ok Daddy?" Tim tried to smile as he nodded but he looked to Abby desperately for help. She passed him some water and uselessly banged him on the back. She kind of knew that it wouldn't help but she really didn't know what to do. As she was able to get a better view of the offending sandwich she could see that unlike the tiny scrape of the pungent yellow mustard that you usually use, Jess had lathered a copious amount. Having made the mistake herself once before, she knew how Tim was suffering. Too much of the hot English and it shot right up your nose making your eyes water and that was just a little too much. Judging from the mustard that had leaked out onto the plate from the remainder of his sandwich it was a little more than a little too much. Everyone at the table watched as Tim eventually ran from the table and up the stairs presumably to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face. Probably to blow his nose.

Now Dyl was starting to enjoy himself. The giggles started and he wasn't able to stop them. Jess looked stricken as he poked her arm.

"The first time you ever cook and you nearly killed Dad you moron." He said as he fell off his chair clutching his tummy. The old Abby resurfaced and she hauled him to his feet landing a hard smack to his backside.

"Apologise to your sister this minute." She said. Jess was sitting being comforted by Sarah while the tears ran down her cheeks. She hadn't meant to hurt her Daddy really. She thought her Mommy saved that mustard for special. Dyl did feel a little bad for Jess. But not enough that he could get himself under control. "Dylan now."

"I'm sor...ry Jess." He said but ruined the moment by bursting into a fresh bout of hilarity. He didn't even stop when Abby landed a further few hard smacks to his already smarting rear end. Realising the only thing that was going to stop him was space, she sent him up the stairs with a glare.

"Don't make me come up there Dylan." She called up the stairs as she could see his shoulders still shaking. Luckily he managed to escape into his room before Tim came out of his and Abby's, somewhat relieved although still blowing his nose.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs Jess launched herself at him. "I'm sorry Daddy. I didn't mean to make you sick." She said as she kissed him all over his face.

"I know you didn't Jess. I should have looked a little closer too before I put it in my mouth." He said a she hugged her tight. "Anyway I'm fine now. Why don't you go upstairs and watch Tv with Mommy for a while and I'll clean up." He said. "That's the best bit about being the cook. You don't have to clean up." Abby kissed him and took Jess's hand and walked up the stairs.

"Do you need help Tim?" Sarah asked.

"Nah. You have school work. Anyway how much mess can sandwiches make?" he asked.

"Ok." Sarah said. "If you're sure." She ran up the stairs opening her phone, she thought she'd put in a quick call to Zac before she finished her assignment.

Tim stacked the plates and carried them into the kitchen. He groaned as he his eyes swept around the kitchen taking in the devastation that was before him. Every counter top was covered in some kind of sandwich ingredient. The peanut butter and jelly was dribbling down the outside of the jars there was big dobs of butter on the bench and turkey hanging from the package that was sitting in a pile of sprinkles.

As he stepped forward to put the plates in the sink, he felt something squishy under his toes. It was a piece of buttered bread. He bent down and peeled it away but lost his balance when he leaned over to toss it in the trash. When his foot came down automatically to save him it landed in the trail of sprinkles which were now joined to the butter. Tim shook his head, He really didn't know where to start. Giving in to the desperation he was starting to feel, he leaned over and slid open the back door. Rex came bounding in followed by his faithful side kick Lulu. Rex thought all his Christmases had come at once as his snout found all number of delicacies spread all over the normally pristine floor. He bounded from one place to another vacuuming up any little morsel that he could find while wagging his tail excitedly. Lulu sat and daintily collected sprinkles on her tongue. Savouring her windfall less greedily. Tim attempted to remove the sticky mess from his foot with a cloth before tossing it in the trash. He then set to throwing away any other rubbish. Walking around the kitchen with a trash bag he collected empty wrappers and jars, taking great pleasure in tossing the almost full jar of Ducky's mustard into the bag.

Thanks to Rex and Lulu the cleanup hadn't taken nearly as long as he thought it would and after wiping down every jar and replacing every item to it's rightful home and stacking the dishwasher and putting the dogs back outside, he washed the floor with disinfectant and eventually turned off the lights. As he headed upstairs for a shower, he vowed to never reward Jess with anything food related again.

TBC


	103. Chapter 103

Thankyou all for your reviews and alerts. I really appreciate those of you who have stuck with me. I know I don't post as much as I used to. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Thankyou to Maudlin Muse who co-wrote this chapter with me :)

Chapter 103

Gibbs had been home awhile. They had had dinner and he had sat with Maddie while she finished all her work. Surprisingly it didn't take very long. She was obviously very bright. If only they could get her to use her smarts for good and not evil. Gibbs smiled to himself as he sat reading the paper. Kim had been only too pleased to take the boys for a few days and had gone to break the news to Maddie who was still in her room in disgrace over her antics.

Maddie had been feeling sad. She missed Jess and she wanted everything to be the same as it used to be. Jess was her friend. The only friend that she had ever had really, and Maddie was scared. Scared that Jess would make other friends if they didn't sit together anymore in school. That she would be alone again. She was sitting on her bed feeling sorry for herself when her Mommy opened her door.

"Something wrong Maddie?" she said as she took a seat on the bed beside her sad faced little girl. Maddie shrugged. Kim pulled Maddie up into her lap. "I know it doesn't seem very fair to you Maddie, and I know that you miss Jess, but school is for learning. You need to use some of what you have up here..." she said tapping her head gently. "For showing everyone how well you can do at school, not for trying to outsmart the teacher." Maddie looked sheepish.

"I wasn't..." she started. Kim tilted Maddie's head towards her so that she could look her directly in the eye.

"You were. Trying to get the teacher to do what you wanted was manipulative and wrong." Maddie looked down and sighed. "On a brighter note...I have some news that I think will cheer you up." Maddie's face lit up. Finally. Something good judging by the look on her Mommy's face. "Kyle and Michael are going to be staying here with us for a few days. Their Mom and Dad are going away." Maddie's face transformed from happy to completely stunned in the blink of an eye. To a seven year old girl this was news. NEWS! Maddie couldn't have been any more astonished if she'd been told Justin Bieber was coming for dinner. She thought that the two older long haired boys were beautiful. Specially Kyle. Maddie was completely in awe of Kyle. He was funny and clever. He had the best ideas ever. Who could ever forget Jess's letterbox with the bomb that he let them help with. Cause, they WERE still all grounded cos of the fireworks that had got her foot burned...but it wasn't Kyle's fault that that happened. Not really. This was gonna be fun and Maddie was gonna make sure that Kyle really noticed her now.

Tony and Ziva had picked up pizza on their way home and were sharing a quiet dinner with the boys. Michael was eating quietly but he was nervous. He was obviously picking up on the serious undertone of what his parents were trying to make light of. Kyle was busily cramming his cheeks with bite after bite of the delicious pizza, occasionally stopping briefly to swipe some cheese on his sleeve. Although, contrary to how it seemed, he wasn't completely clueless and he too had picked up on the fact that although things were brighter on the surface, they were far from just handled his worry in his own way...which at the moment was with food.

"Boys." Tony said seriously. Two sets of serious eyes turned to face him, knowing instinctively that something big was about to be said. "Your Mom and I have to go away for a few days." Neither of the boys let their eyes wander away from their Dad's face. They didn't need to look at each other to confirm what the other twin was thinking. Although they were so outwardly different, they were still on the same wave length, each understanding what the other was thinking. Unlike his brother however, Kyle wasn't too shy to put their fears into words...or more to the point a smart ass quip. He also knew that it would somehow lighten the mood and put his brother at ease. Even if Michael didn't want him to, which judging by the kick he just got under the table he didn't.

"Not heading off somewhere for a quicky divorce are ya?" he asked. For once Tony didn't bite. He could see the flash of fear that passed across Kyle's eyes as he asked the question. It was meant to be a joke but there was genuine concern there and both parents felt bad that the kids had to deal with the insecurity that they had hoped to protect them from. Michael looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He hadn't wanted Kyle to ask that, mostly because he wasn't ready to hear the answer.

Tony and Ziva looked at each other briefly and smiled sadly before Tony took his wife's hand and kissed it.

"No divorce. Quite the opposite. We just need to spend some time alone together." He said as he tried to calm Ziva as well as Kyle and Michael.

"Ewwww. Gross." Kyle said, putting two and two together and coming up with six.

"Kyle!" Tony said. "We want to TALK and relax a little. Work has been tough lately." Kyle grimaced.

"Ok I guess. But while you're RELAXING, where are we gonna be?" A scary thought rushing through his mind he said "Please tell me we're going to Dyl's. Please!" It was Tony's turn to grimace.

"Sorry to disappoint you Kyle but you kids are all still grounded. Remember?" He hoped this explanation covered the real reason they weren't going to Tim and Abby's. "You're going to spend a few days with Gibbs and Kim and ..." Tony started. This time the boys did look at each other in utter dread as they said slowly and in total unison with large wide eyes.

"Maddie." Tony and Ziva shared a sympathetic look.

"Oh well. You know what they say...That that doesn't kill you will make you stronger." Tony said. Ziva looked at him curiously.

"Who are THEY Tony?" she asked.

"It's an expression Ziva." He answered, his look trying to convey that it didn't matter. She got that.

"Boys come on, I will help you pack your things." She said. "Gibbs and Kim are expecting you in about an hour." Kyle headed for the stairs grumbling to himself under his breath while Michael hung back a little to walk next to his Mom.

When Kyle had disappeared into his bedroom Michael tugged on his Mom's arm.

"Yes Michael?" Ziva said as she looked into her son's face. "You do not mind too much?" Michael shook his head slowly, but he obviously had something on his mind.

"Mom...when you come back...you and Dad, will everything be...back to normal?" he asked. Ziva sighed guiltily as she gave him the answer that he wanted and the one she hoped herself was true.

"Yes Michael. Everything will be fine." He hugged her with such relief that she actually felt physical pain in her heart at the thought that she may have caused her child distress. She didn't know how but one way or another they would have to find a way to fix this mess.

Much to Kyle and Michael's relief, Maddie was already asleep by the time the boys were dropped off at the Gibbs' house. After Tony and Ziva had left, Kim and Gibbs showed their new charges up to the guest room. They thought as the boys were away from home they might like to share so Kim had made up the two beds and left clean towels on the end of their beds. Kyle's eyes widened.

"We already took a shower at home. We don't have ta take another one already do we?" he whined. Gibbs smirked. Boys never change do they. Always allergic to water and soap.

"Of course you don't...tonight. But I'm sure you're gonna need those towels tomorrow. Anyway it's pretty late so why don't you boys hop in bed. Kyle thought he might just test the waters a little.

"What if I told you that we always watch TV in bed at home?" he said. Gibbs raised his eyebrows although it was taking all his will power not to give in to the smile that was very close to escaping.

"Then you'd be lying and I'm pretty sure you don't wanna go there. Now hop in bed, it's late and there's school tomorrow." Kim said heading Gibbs off at the pass. She leaned over and kissed both the boys good night before switching off the lamp. Gibbs ruffled each of their heads and called "Night boys." as he shut the door behind him.

Across the hall a very excited little girl was laying awake in her bed mulling over in her mind the best way to get Kyle's attention. She couldn't wait to see them in the morning. Even though Kyle was her favourite, she still liked Michael he was always nice to her.

After Tony and Ziva had dropped off the boys they had travelled a short way down the coast. Tony had booked a small cabin near the beach. It was getting a little cool for swimming some days but it's quiet location meant they'd be free from the distraction of somewhere with more bustle. By the time they got there it was late and the couple decided to turn in. Tony lay with his eyes wide open as he tried to force sleep to come, he only really decided to turn in because he could see that Ziva was beat. But as soon as they were in bed, she had turned away from him, leaving him to stare blindly into the darkness trying desperately to push away the hurt. Relief washed over him a few moments later as thankfully, Ziva snuggled back against him and grabbed his arm pulling it tightly around her. No words were spoken and none were needed as the small loving gesture was enough to tide him over for now. He didn't even care if he slept. She still loved him he thought, and that meant one thing. There was hope.

VERY early the next morning, Kyle and Michael were sprawled out on their beds still sleeping the peaceful sleep that only the young can manage in a strange bed. Michael had wrapped himself so completely with his comforter that he resembled a mummy. The only thing poking out of the top was his head. His brown curls partially covering his face. Kyle had spread right out. His T-shirt all askew, he had one leg under the covers and the other spread over the top of the comforter. His pillow was folded in half and his blonde curls were in total disarray as they spread across his face and the pillow. He snored softly.

Suddenly the snoring stopped and Kyle opened one eye... "What the hell?" he yelled as he knocked a very startled Maddie off her feet as he jumped up in shock. Maddie was flabbergasted. One minute she'd been staring right into Kyle's closed eyes, not two inches from his face willing him to wake up and the next she had plopped unceremoniously onto her bottom in a most undignified manner. Hmmmpff. He didn't even look sorry. Michael had actually been awake first but was too curious to see what Maddie was actually gonna do to attempt to stop her. Well she hadn't been doing anything really. Except looking at his brother all weird he would have jumped up and helped Maddie but he was totally consumed with an uncharacteristic fit of the giggles. He didn't know what was funnier, the look of embarrassment and outrage on Maddie's now bright red face or the look of shock and fear all over his brothers equally red face. Fear from what Gibbs and Kim would say or do to him for knocking Maddie half way across the room prompted Kyle to gentle his tone...a little.

"Geez Maddie! I'm sorry I knocked you over but you scared me to death. What...why...what the hell were you doin anyway?" he asked as he grabbed the tips of her fingers, making sure to only touch just enough to haul her back to her feet. Maddie stared diligently at her feet as she desperately tried to come up with an answer. Coming up blank she reverted to form and started howling...loudly. Michael stopped giggling and Kyle clapped his hand over her mouth. Not the brightest of moves but to a panicked 11 year old who just wanted a quick fix to the noise it seemed to fit the bill at that moment in time. Unfortunately it was too little too late and it certainly wasn't a good look when Gibbs and Kim came bursting through the door all bleary eyed to see what all the fuss was about.

"What's goin on in here?" Gibbs demanded. Kim swiped at her face and squinted in the early morning light. It really was all three kids awake with Maddie in the wrong room with Kyle holding her in some kind of strangle hold with his hand clapped over her mouth.

"Maddie what're you doing here at this hour?" she asked. They all looked to Maddie for an answer and Gibbs rolled his eyes.

"Can't answer son unless you let go of her mouth." Gibbs said impatiently. Kyle jumped a little as he realised he still had a hold of the little drama queen who had started all this.

"Sorry." He said as he released his hold on her. Maddie looked a little panicked but only for a split second.

"HE pushed me over!" she said indignantly as she pointed a finger in Kyle's direction. Kyle narrowed his eyes at her. He didn't think for a minute they'd believe him if he told them how this had started. Gibbs sat on the bed and turned Maddie to face him.

"You didn't answer your Mommy's question." He said giving her the benefit of the doubt, although it was plain she was as much to blame for the ruckus as Kyle and Michael, maybe more. Not wanting to look like she was a scaredy cat baby in front of the boys, Maddie stuck out her bottom lip out defiantly.

"I was just seein if they was awake." She said. "I'm allowed to check if they was awake." She said bravely and then glanced at the boys faces. The admiration for her daring that was shining in their eyes spurred her on a little further. "So there!" she said putting her hands on her hips for effect. It had an effect alright, one that she should have probably counted on. She jumped and yelped at the sharp smack that landed on her bottom.

"Can the attitude Miss." Gibbs said as he propelled her to the door with another stinging slap. "Nobody's impressed." They weren't now, Maddie thought as she caught sight of the twins faces. Gone were the looks of admiration, and in their place was a look that was a combination of sympathy and disbelief. Gibbs pointed to her room and she stomped inside slamming the door behind her. Kyle was never gonna look at her as older now. Not after she got smacked right in front of them like she was only six.

The next morning, Ziva woke to Tony's smiling face and a tray of her favourite breakfast foods. He had opened up the drapes and let what sunshine there was into the room.

"Hey." He said. "How'd you sleep?" Ziva sat up in bed a little and tried to smile but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Fine." She said quietly. An eerie silence followed that she finally broke her self. "We must talk." Tony nodded seriously as he pushed down the hope that was bubbling just under the surface. This was it. A decision was imminent and then there'd be no going back. Ever.

"Do you wanna start or will I?" he asked. Ziva forked a piece of fruit and popped it into her mouth.

"Tony, I am an agent. It is what I am. It is what I do. I have NEVER known anything else. I do not know how to be somebody different." Ziva said. She took a deep breath and ploughed on desperate to make Tony understand where she was coming from. "I have always looked after myself, protected myself and those that I care about. It makes me feel safe. If I remain pregnant, I will not have that safety net anymore. I will be...lost. Being pregnant is dangerous. With the limitations that pregnancy brings, how will I be able to keep myself safe let alone our unborn child?" Tears sprang to Tony's eyes.

Why did she feel like that? Didn't she think he couldn't protect her? That he couldn't keep her and their unborn child safe? He knew he was goofy but he was strong. He always thought Ziva saw him as strong, anyway. Tony's thoughts were madly swirling around his head and then he looked at her. Really looked at her and then he knew. This wasn't to do with him or the job or the baby. Well not directly. This was all about her past and the lack of love and protection she'd gotten as a child. She had always had to be on her toes, strong, taking care of things or it could have meant her life, and from a very young age. She saw being pregnant as being weak and to Ziva, being weak meant death. THAT'S why she put so much into the job. She was just plain scared. He'd known that all along but now he knew what she was scared of. She wasn't just scared of what being a parent meant, just as all parents expecting their first infant, understandably, were, she was plain scared that she wouldn't be able to keep herself safe through the pregnancy. Not to mention it was hard to show the kind of love that you'd not experienced much of yourself. How do you take care of a baby, show them unconditional love and protection, if you, yourself, never received it? How did you even know what it looked like? God if anyone could understand how she felt he could. But they could do this. They could break the cycle, he just knew they could. And it was time that Ziva let her guard down and let them all love her completely; it was time for her to trust him to be able to keep her safe. It would be hard, no doubt, as she had always only counted on herself for that, but she knew he loved her, he knew she knew that, and he would show her he could protect her too.

"Zi honey, I think the fact that you HAVE put your whole life into becoming an agent, and the fact that you don't think you'll be safe, just because you're pregnant is really sad." He said. "Look, I know you never got to be a happy go lucky naughty little girl or a disrespectful unruly teenager. You grew up too fast. It doesn't have to be like that now. You don't have to be the one in control. We're a team. I'll keep you safe. You and the rest of any family we have. You believe me don't you Zi?" he said as he ducked his head to peer into her downcast eyes. She nodded.

"Maybe we've been looking at this the wrong way. Instead of it being a halt to your career...all be it a temporary one, it could be an opportunity for you to try something new. Or pick up something that you never got to finish. Ziva's face clouded over. "What? What did I say?" Tony said hoping like hell he hadn't pushed to fast.

Ziva opened her mouth and then closed it .And then... "He did not come." Tony looked confused but forced himself to wait patiently for the explanation that he knew would come when she was ready. "There was a dance recital and I waited. I looked out into the auditorium where all the other parents were seated but he did not come. I loved to dance but my father...he had no time for such frivolous activities. So I stopped. I did what I had to, to please him. I never did." Tony's heart jolted. Once again his mind was reeling. He couldn't have put into words if he tried the hatred he felt at that moment for the man who had wounded his little girl's heart so badly and not even cared. There was sadness for the little girl that had only known hate, love for the woman that he wanted to help heal and hope that their baby might get their chance. Tony leapt at this chance.

"See Zi! That's it! Wouldn't you love to take some time. To take dance classes, you could even teach." He saw it then and his heart skipped a beat. It was only tiny but he didn't miss it. A light flashed across Ziva's eyes and then it was gone as fast as it had come.

"Tony, how?" she said sadly. "How could we afford to pay for classes? We have the boys and on one pay check..."

"What if we didn't have to worry about the money?" Tony asked trying to temper his happiness a little.

"If we didn't have to worry about money Tony but we do. It would be three children and still...one pay check." She said sternly.

"I... I have money, Ziva, I have an old savings account that my grandparents opened for me, I had to keep it hidden but I think I can access it without my father knowing if I were to write a direct check... It's more than enough to pay for anything you may need for classes. This is something I want you to have if you want it."

Gibbs closed the door and turned to the boys. "What happened?" he asked although he had a pretty good idea already.

"She didn't really do anything and neither did we." Michael said. Kyle flashed his brother a relieved look. He was right, they hadn't done anything. Knocking Maddie over was an accident.

"What he said." Kyle said nodding his head towards his brother. " When I woke up Maddie's face was right here." He said demonstrating where she'd been. Gibbs smirked. "She scared the cr...daylights out of me and I bumped her I guess and she ended up on her butt."

"And I guessed I laughed. A bit. Well alot. But not really at Maddie falling over, it was more the looks on their faces." He said smiling again at the memory. Gibbs returned his smile.

"It's ok boys I get the picture." Gibbs said. "Try and get a little more sleep ok?" Both relieved boys jumped back into bed and pulled up the covers. Kim kissed first Michael and then Kyle.

"Kim?" he said. "I wouldn't hurt her on purpose." He said.

"I know honey." She said kissing the top of his head before following Gibbs out into the hallway.

"I think our little girl has a crush." Kim said smiling. Gibbs grinned back at her.

"Oh yeah. Should make the next few days quite interesting." He said.

Ziva eyed Tony suspiciously. "You have never mentioned this account before." She said trying hard not to let Tony's enthusiasm catch too fast.

"I guess I kind of forgot about it." He said shrugging. "We've never really needed it, so I put it out of my mind. What do you think?" he asked and then held his breath while he waited for the answer that would potentially change all of their lives.

TBC


	104. Chapter 104

I would like to thank everyone for their lovely reviews and alerts. Mostly though for your patience and for sticking with the story. If you have. Although if your reading this I assume you've stuck with the story. Anyway...I hope you enjoy this chapter!

I would also like the thank Maudlin Muse, who is my voice of reason. I appreciate her help very much :)

Chapter 104

"Ziva?" Tony prompted gently. He was doing his best not to push, he really was, but he was finding it extremely difficult to contain his excitement. Ziva's eyes were still downcast but she could feel Tony's boring in to her. Finally after what seemed like hours she lifted her head and grinned.

"I guess a little girl might be nice." She said, her eyes brimming with happy tears. Tony whooped loudly as he squashed her in a bone crushing hug, no longer able to quell the emotions that had been threatening to rise up and choke him. Unfortunately he managed to upset the breakfast tray in the process. Neither of them cared.

Tony was beyond happy and relieved and so full of love for this woman who always managed to amuse him, infuriate him, impress him and terrify him all in equal measures. But this was more than any of those things. This was unbridled generosity on her part. Ziva was giving him a gift that he could never equal. He would never forget what she had to give up for this baby and for their family and he would do anything he could to make this pregnancy the most positive experience that he could. Of course he knew even if SHE wasn't sure, that she'd be overjoyed when the baby came, that went without saying...Ziva was a natural mother. But the pregnancy with all its restrictions may be another kettle of fish. He grinned at the thought. Oh it wouldn't be easy. He thought for a moment about Abby's and Amber's hormonal reactions to their pregnancies. Mmmm. A pregnant, hormonal ninja chick. Now there was a scary thought.

Ziva was lost in her own thoughts. She felt so many things. Fear was the uppermost annoying feeling. More than anything fear of change. But Tony was right. They could do this if they did it together. Wow. They were going to have the baby. She unconsciously ran a hand across her tummy as for the first time she allowed herself to actually think of the problem as a baby. Their baby. Hers and Tony's. A little piece of both of them. Surprise was another emotion washing through her. Surprise at how quickly her thoughts had naturally adapted to the change in her plans. And love. She had really always loved Tony. Even when he was at his most annoying, but this time he had done everything exactly right. He had not been angry or judgmental or impatient. He had waited and listened and come up with a solution just like the miracle she had hoped for. And the dancing. She had not even dared to let herself think about the dancing in years. But it would be nice to spend time doing something that she loved. And she could spend more time with the boys. Pick them up from school and cook. Really cook, the beautiful food that took hours to prepare properly, that she did not really have time for with the demands that being an agent put on her time. And she could prepare for the little one. She could decorate a room and buy clothes. This is when the sadness suddenly washed over her, but she pushed it away, refusing to allow it to overshadow this moment. But it niggled still underneath the surface of her relief. There was something missing and she would never have that back.

Abby dressed and dried her hair, doing it up in her usual pigtails before applying her makeup and donning her usual platform boots. Tim hated her wearing those boots now that she was pregnant, but they weren't unsafe. Quite the opposite in fact. They were kind of an extension of her legs and they were practically flat. Just kind of HIGH RISE flat, and there was plenty of room for circulation. Not like the pointy toed stiletto monstrosities like the ones she had to wear for court. Now THEY were a danger to ANY woman's health, let alone a pregnant woman. Even Ziva preferred the chunky boots for everyday comfort, although hers were somewhat closer to the ground. Abby smiled when she thought of the many eclectic shopping trips that she and Ziva...tears stung her eyes, a few escaping and carrying her mascara with them leaving messy black streaks down her freshly made up face. She wasn't crying. Not really. It was just this deep seated sadness at the loss of her friend. It was worse than losing her permanently really. Worse than when she'd gone back to Somalia. Having someone or something you treasured so close and yet so out of reach was torture. If only she could make it right. But there was no way she could do that until Ziva agreed to speak to her. Putting her game face back on, Abby wiped the annoying tears from her cheeks and headed back to the bathroom to repair the damage before she faced her family at breakfast. This was her mistake and her pain. No reason to worry any of them.

As Tony and Ziva walked hand in hand along the deserted beach Tony chanced a quick glance sideways at his wife. He opened his mouth and closed it again. Twice. Then finally he decided to keep it shut. There was nothing he'd like more than to broach the subject of Abby and Tim...but he'd already asked enough of Ziva for now. Besides, Ziva was not an unreasonable person and whether she wanted to admit it or not...she loved Abby. No, he had to trust her. She'd come around when the time was right. He knew she would.

Ziva looked at Tony out of the corner of her eye. She smiled as she glanced at her husband suspiciously. Something was obviously on his mind. "Something you wanted to say Tony?" she asked. Tony grinned and gave her arm a gentle tug as he pulled her towards him.

"Nah." He said. "I was just thinking how lucky we were." Ziva smiled back.

"Yes Tony we are." she answered. "Very lucky."

Gibbs usually left for work early before Maddie was even up, but this morning, with half his team away, he decided to hang back in case Kim needed him. He was working on some paper work in the study and nobody but his wife new he was there. He just thought he'd get a little done and then join the others for some coffee while they ate their breakfast.

The boys did their best to fix everything themselves. It was awkward to have to ask someone else's Mom to do stuff for you. Besides, there uniforms had been ironed and hung in the closet for them, all they really had to do was wash and get dressed. Even their back packs had been packed at their own house last night before they came. So after getting ready, they sat at the breakfast table fully dressed and started their breakfast.

Maddie had laid in bed last night thinking up ways to get Kyle's attention. She smiled into the dark as a new idea came to her. She could make herself look older. That's why Kyle wasn't interested in her. He still thought she was a baby, even though she was seven. But Maddie had a foolproof way of making him think she was older. Her Mommy's stuff.

Next morning Maddie waited until she heard her Mommy and Daddy go downstairs, then she snuck into their room and started looking for something that would make her look older and attract Kyle's attention. It took her several minutes before she found the very thing she was after.

As Maddie cleared her throat to announce her presence, Kyle looked up from reading the back of his cereal box and dropped his spoon into the bowl. He couldn't help himself, it was all too much. As he burst out laughing and spat his cereal halfway across the table. Michael looked on in horror as some landed in his juice.

"Kyle! Don't be a pig!" he hissed, trying to get his brother to behave. But then his eyes followed Kyle's to land on the object of his brother's undoing.

Maddie had dressed for school as usual but with some added extras. She had donned a pair of her mother's stockings and garter sets. In her complicated little mind...the fact that they were white, meant that they were within the range of the school uniform and the best part was, she honestly thought she looked a good couple of years older. Unfortunately, the effect was quite the opposite. Her seven year old height and the fact that she obviously lacked her Mommy's curves meant that the garter belt itself did nothing towards holding the stockings up, which were pooled in unattractive wrinkly mess around her knees. The garter belt, while very alluring when it clung to Kim's naked form, just didn't...thank God for small mercies... have the same effect when it hung below Maddie's uniform skirt barely touching her skinny little legs anywhere except the place she'd managed to crookedly hook it up to the stockings.

Hearing the kafuffle, Kim turned from the stove where she was making breakfast and had to cover her own mouth to stop herself from laughing. Poor Maddie. Kim did feel a little sorry for her, she had obviously wanted to make some kind of impression, she doubted that it was this response she'd been looking for however. But Maddie was seven and so wrapped up in her own plan to look older, that she was totally oblivious to the effect her entrance had made. Unfortunately, there was also the fact that she had once again, been rifling through her Mommy's things without asking. Jethro was not going to be pleased. Kim was pretty sure that Maddie didn't realise that her Daddy was just down the hall in the den. It WAS funny though. If only she could find a way to get a photo without Maddie noticing. It certainly was a Kodak moment.

Kim cleared her throat. Maddie raised her chin and avoided her Mommy's eye as she looked straight to the boys to see how impressed they were. Something funny must have happened cos they were so busy laughing that neither of them even seemed to notice her new grown up look. The fact that the stockings were her Mommy's and the fact that she'd taken them from her Mommy's special drawer was a matter to be worried about later. For now she wanted a reaction, and she wanted it now! "Maddie!" Kim said sternly. "Upstairs. Now!" Maddie of course was set on a path, and even though she knew she was playing with fire she couldn't stop now. She was already gonna catch it, but it'd all be for nothing if she didn't get the chance to show Kyle how grown up she could be. Maddie walked in a wide circle around the table right in front of Kyle's line of vision so that he would be sure to notice her, it also meant that she was on the opposite side of the room to her Mommy which helped. But Kyle had his eye's set on his stupid juice glass and not on her. Tears were streaming down his face as he tried desperately to control his fit of the giggles. Michael was also finding his juice glass funny. Kim wasn't. She was very quickly making a bee line for her daughter on the other side of the table. Maddie had to think fast, she made a dive to move Kyle's glass. She really did only mean to move it...out of the way so that he could see her better. But when the glass flew off the table and smashed on the tiles and the juice went all over, the room suddenly stood still. Kyle's tears of laughter evaporated instantly and Michael's jaw dropped as both sets of eyes alternated between Kim's and Maddie's to see who was going to react first. Unfortunately for Kyle it was Maddie. Before he knew what had hit him, Maddie had kicked him...hard...in the shin. Her face turned red with rage. "See! See what you did? This is all your fault Kyle Dinozzo! All you had to do was look at me and you didn't. Now look what happened." Kim stood with one hand on her hip and the other pointing to the stairs. She sucked in a breath before saying in a dangerously low voice, one that Maddie didn't recognise.

"Now Miss." Maddie was so mad at Kyle that she didn't even look in the boy's direction before stomping out of the room, although the effect was not what she'd hoped as she tried to avoid a whack from her Mommy by stomping sideways as she passed, it didn't save her. Kim grabbed her arm and smacked her bottom several times before she sent her towards the stairs to change. Turning to face the devastation of the room she had to smile as both boys dove into their cereal like it was the best thing they'd ever eaten. Just as well because the rest of breakfast was burning to a crisp on the stove.

Abby stuck her head first into Sarah's room, she heard the running shower and spied the books laid out on the bed and assumed everything was in hand here so continued onto Dyl's room. He was dragging himself around but he was out of bed. Abby kissed him on the head and took his ironed uniform out of the closet and tossed it on the bed. "Get a move on Hon." She said as she closed the door behind her and headed to Jess room. Jess was already dressed and had done her own hair into pigtails that were supposed to resemble her Mommy's. They didn't really. While Abby's were perfectly symetrical, Jess had one pigtail really high and the other one was down below her ear. She threw her arms around her Mommy.

"Morning Mommy." She said happily. "I already did my hair and everything." Abby was wincing inside at sight of Jess hair. She couldn't let her go to school like that but she hated to dampen her enthusiasm.

"Looks like you're all set. Aww. But you've done your hair already." Abby said with a mock pout. "Doing your braids is one of the most favourite parts of my day." Hoping that she wouldn't have to hurt Jess feelings Abby waited.

"You could still do my braids." Jess said handing Abby the brush. Abby beamed.

"Thanks hon." She said perching on the end of the bed. It didn't take her long to repair the damage and Jess pride was still intact. "Shall we see what Daddy has for breakfast?" she asked as she took Jess's hand. Jess giggled.

"He'll do cereal. He always does cereal." She said. Abby squeezed her fingers gently.  
"Did you want something else?" she asked.

"Nah. Cereal is my favourite breakfast." She said smiling.

"Mine too." Abby said. Alright so it was a little white lie. You couldn't really tell a seven year old that your favourite breakfast was a donut with sprinkles.

Jess went into the kitchen and sat down at the table. Abby kissed Tim good morning and sat between the two kids. Tim came across and poured milk on Jess cereal. Dyl was already on his second bowl and was stockpiling toast to have next.

"HUNGRY Dyl?" Abby said as she took one of the pieces of toast from Dyl's pile and started spreading it with butter.

"I thought cereal was your favourite?" Jess said somewhat indignantly. She felt a little miffed that her Mommy had chosen Dyl's toast over eating the same cereal as her. Tim watched this little scene with some amusement. Abby didn't usually eat cereal and although she did eat the occasional piece of toast, he was hard pressed these days to get her to eat much at all. Looks like this morning the kids were gonna have her eating cereal and toast. He smirked and turned back to the toaster as he saw her reluctantly pouring herself a bowl of cereal. Tim leaned over helpfully and handed her a jug of milk.

"Don't forget the milk Abs." he said with a grin.

"Thanks Tim." She said narrowing her eyes. "Remind me to help you out sometime." Tim pretended he hadn't heard and went to shout a hurry up, up the stairs to Sarah.

Gibbs put the phone down ran a hand over his face. What now ? He thought.

Maddie was stomping towards the stairs. She was so angry that she hadn't yet looked up from the floor until her eyes settled on a very familiar pair of brown boots. Uh oh! Damn. Maddie didn't know her Daddy was still here. Gibbs bit the inside of cheek to stop himself laughing at the comical sight before him.

"New addition to the school uniform Maddie?" he asked. Maddie looked at him sheepishly but said nothing. Nothing to say really when you've been caught red handed with your hand in your Mommy's underwear draw...again. "Maddie?"

"Um...not xactly." She said quietly.

"Bit big don't you think? Gibbs asked with his eyebrow raised but Maddie was giving nothing away, she shrugged.

"Maddie! Did you go into your Mommy's things and take those?" he asked sternly.

"Ahhh...well...I kinda borrowed them." Maddie answered slowly. At the sudden sharp sting she straightened up and rubbed her bottom. "Yes Daddy."

"And what have you been told about that?" Gibbs asked.

"Not to." Maddie said sadly. "But I just wanted to look older for Ky..."

"I know why. That's no excuse and this older business stops right now. You're a little girl. Too little to be worried about boys and you're not to chase Kyle around anymore. Got it?" he said.

"Got it Daddy." Maddie said with her head down. Maddie went to go up the stairs when she suddenly found herself in the air.

"Not so fast." Gibbs said as he draped her over his knee. "We've had this discussion many times about taking your Mommy's stuff and it's not to happen again."He flipped up her skirt and looked to the heavens to thank God she didn't go to school like that. Underneath her skirt as an accompaniment to the rest of the ensemble was the matching thong. Although on Maddie it was more like a piece of ribbon that didn't touch her anywhere,much like the suspenders, let alone cover anything. He wondered how she'd even managed to get it to stay up. Then he noticed an unsightly knot tied in the side. Well thank heavens Kim taught her to tie her shoe laces... God knows what the Sister would have had to say about this little lot. Still for his purposes it made an easy target as he brought his hand down hard on her bare bottom.

Maddie squealed loudly and the boys shovelled their cereal faster. They couldn't see what was going on but they had a pretty good idea. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Gibbs was still there. The both winced at the next smack and the accompanying screech. Kim sighed as she busied herself stacking the dishwasher, will she ever learn, she thought.

A short while later a very subdued Maddie joined them again in the kitchen dressed in her uniform with the regulation white socks and presumably a normal pair of underpants. Kyle smiled at her sympathetically but once she had checked that her parents weren't looking, Maddie poked out her tongue. As she went to sit...carefully...she pulled up a chair...right next to Michael. He cringed as she looked up at him and smiled.

When they went back to their cottage Ziva went to lie down. Now that she had finally come to terms with keeping the baby, she could no longer ignore or push away the symptoms from early pregnancy. It was actually a relief to be able to give in to the overwhelming tiredness. There was no way that Ziva would normally go and lie down in the middle of the day but subtle as they were she could already feel the changes and now that the decision had been made she may as well accept them. They were here to stay.

Tony stood in the doorway and smiled as he listened to Ziva's gently snoring. He was sure it'd be quite a while before the smile left his face. He was so happy. Tony walked around to his side of the bed and retrieved his bag. Digging down into the side pocket he pulled out a paper bag that had not yet been opened. He tore at the paper gently, making sure not to wake Ziva.

Settling himself in the arm chair, Tony opened up the book that he had purchased a couple of days ago in the hope that he'd have the chance to use it and turned to the pictures of embroyos at all the different stages of pregnancy. He stared at the six week foetus with tears in his eyes. A month ago he would have thought it resembled a peanut, but now...words couldn't describe what he was feeling.

TBC


	105. Chapter 105

Thankyou to all who are still reading and reviewing and for the alerts. This is a fairly short chapter and just a bit of a light one. I needed to have some fun with Maddie. I hope you enjoy. Let me know if you like it...and if you don't LOL. :)

Thankyou again to Maudlin Muse who co writes with me. :)

Chapter 105

As Jess and Maddie sat together at Recess, Maddie imparted her plan to Jess who looked a little sceptical if not downright negative about the whole idea.

"Um... I don't know if that'll work Maddie." She said, trying to be diplomatic. "I don't think they like girls. Any girls. Specially not little girls." Maddie huffed impatiently.

"Jesssss." She whined. "We're not little anymore and and I know better anyway, they're stayin at my house." Jess thought about that for a minute. Well that was true. She was still not sure, but it was clear that Maddie was getting kinda mad and Jess didn't like it when Maddie was mad. And it wasn't like it would be doin anything really wrong. Really.

"Ok." She said with a smile. "Whatya want me to do?" It was then that Maddie whispered the best part of her plan excitedly into Jess's ear. Jess eyes became like saucers. She was clearly not keen on this part of the plan.

"Maddie I don't think they'll like that." She said, a worried frown crinkling her forehead. Maddie put her hands on her hips for effect.

"You promised!" she said. "A promise is a promise. Best friends never break a promise. Not ever ever." Jess started to panic.

"Ok. I'll do it." She said quickly heading Maddie off before she could start on one of her famous meltdowns. Although she'd witnessed many, Jess had never been in the centre of one before and she didn't want to start now. Maddie's tantrum faded away quicker even than it had started and she hugged Jess tight.

"Now I don't wanna have Kyle no more, so you can have him and I'll have Michael." She said matter of factly. Jess sighed inaudibly. She didn't really want either of em, and even if they did get em she wasn't sure about what they were gonna do with em. I mean, she liked em both, kinda... like she liked Dyl, but that was all.

"Um Maddie, if they like it...what happens then?" she asked innocently. Maddie rolled her eyes.

"They'll be our boyfriends." She said. Jess was feeling kinda scared now.

"Um...like Sarah and Zac?" she asked wide eyed.

"Kinda." Maddie said.

"Well I'm not kissin Kyle Maddie. That's yuk." She answered shaking her head.

"Ewww!" Maddie said. "Who said anything about kissing. That's gross." Now Jess was even more confused.

"Well what'll we do with em then?" she asked. Again Maddie rolled her eyes.

"We'll just be going out with them." she said. Jess was no clearer.

"Going where?" she asked.

"Jesss! You don't go anywhere." She said with exasperation. "It'll tell people we got boyfriends."

"Who'll it tell?" Jess said. Maddie shrugged.

"Everyone who sees it." She said. It was Jess's turn to shrug. So long as she didn't have to kiss anyone.

"Shouldn't we tell Kyle and Michael first?" she asked. Maddie shook her head.

"Nah. They might say don't." she said adamently. "Once we did it it's too late". Maddie turned to the large oak tree behind her and smiled. She opened her lunch box and retrieved the small sharp knife that she'd snuck from the kitchen that morning when her Mommy wasn't looking.

"Mad-die!" Jess said covering her face with her hands. "We.. can't ...have a knife!" she hissed.

"How else we gonna do it?" Maddie hissed back. Jess shrugged and looked like she might cry. "Jess please you promised. It's not wrong. Look.." she said pointing to the hearts and scratched names in the tree. Jess calmed down a little. That was true. There were names there. Maybe it was ok to do it just once. Maddie sighed with relief when she could see that she'd convinced Jess to go along with her plan. "You keep watch." she said.

"Why do I gotta keep watch if we're not doin nuffin wrong?" Jess asked.

"Cos we don wanna spoil the surprise afor it's ready." Maddie said. Once again Jess's mind was eased and she stood up to watch for someone coming as Maddie got to work behind the tree. After a while Maddie popped out from behind the tree all smiles. "Done." she said. "Your turn." She handed Jess the knife and took her place. Jess moved slowly around the back of the tree and admired Maddie's work. She had managed to scratch a big wobbly heart, well a heart that looked a little like a circle but Jess got the point. In the centre she had scratched Maddie Gibbs luvs Mikel Dinoso. Jess looked for a space big enough and sighed as she started to scratch her heart into the giant oak tree. When she was finished, using Maddie's handywork as a guide but changing the names, Jess scratched Jess McGee luvs KiL Dinoso. But as she stood back to admire her work she felt a firm grip on her elbow. Jess had butterflies in her tummy as she turned slowly to find a not very happy Sister Mary Clarence attached to the hand. The Sister put out her other hand and waited for Jess to pass her the knife.

"Follow me ladies." She said as she marched towards the office. Maddie shrugged as she whispered.

"Sorry Jess. She commed from the other way." Now it was Jess's turn to roll her now tear filled eyes as they quickly shuffled to the office behind Sister Mary Clarence. A fast growing crowd tittered behind them as they read the freshly scratched messages that had been left in the tree by the two very brave but silly little girls. Although the names had been misspelled, the little gang was quite infamous for their antics and the kids knew exactly who they were referring to.

At lunch, Kyle and Michael and Dyl were sitting at a table eating lunch with their friends. The word had gradually been spreading since recess and it seemed that the whole school had seen or heard about the tree except for the boys in question who appeared to be oblivious to all the fuss. So far.

Every now and then a group of girls would pass by giggling or cover their mouths and whisper to each other while they kept their eyes trained on the group of boys at their table. At first the boys didn't take any notice but after a while it became impossible to ignore. Finally when another one of their friends plopped down next to them and grinned it got too much for Kyle.

"What?" he said impatiently. The boy chuckled.

"So, you got a new girlfriend." He said in a sing songy voice. Kyle's blood ran cold. He was gonna kill Maddie. He didn't know what she'd done but she'd done something. This had her name all over it.

"What're you talkin about?" he said.

"Your new girlfriend carved your name in the tree. Along with HERS." he said "Inside a huge heart." He giggled and the others at the table joined him. Kyle went from deathly white to bright red.

"That damn Maddie!" he started to say.

"Um...it wasn't Maddie." The boy said, pausing briefly. "It was Dyl's little sister." He said. Kyle was dumbfounded. He didn't see that coming. Michael was laughing just as hard as all the others until the boy centred his attention on him.

"Maddie put HER name up with Michael's." he said. Michael's laughter died immediately and his face drained of all colour. "And the Sister caught them with a knife. She marched em up to the office. They're gonna be in real big trouble." Kyle and Michael looked at each other and narrowed their eyes. Even the usually placid Michael was pissed. They were gonna be a laughing stock. As another group of kids passed by laughing Kyle amended that it his mind. They already WERE a laughing stock. This called for revenge. Those girls were gonna be sorry. Real sorry.

"Sorry Kyle." Dyl said awkwardly. He hadn't done anything but it felt like he had. It was his sister after all.

"Not your fault." Michael said. "But for once I'm with Kyle. Those girls went too far this time." Dyl nodded.

"I'll help." He said and he meant it. It was the least he could do.

Abby had no sooner hung up the phone than it rang again. It was Kim.

"Did you get a call from the Sister?" she asked.

"Uhhuh." Abby said. "Tim's gonna kill her."

"Jethro's not exactly gonna be thrilled." Kim said. "Actually Abs I was gonna ask you a favour." Abby had a gut feeling what was coming and she held her breath hoping her instincts were wrong. "I'd like to handle this myself, wanna come with me. I know we have to tell the boys but we're capable of handling two little girls aren't we?" Abby blew out a relieved breath. "Is that all. Sure. I've got nothing to do here anyway."

"Give Gibbs a ring and I'll stop by the bullpen and tell Tim on the way out."

"I feel a little sorry for them this time. Can't you remember what it was like to have a crush...you don't do your best thinking when you're trying to attract a boys attention."

"Kim they had a KNIFE! What if one of them had fallen or ...I don't know, I don't even want to imagine what could've happened." Abby said. "Abby could hear volumes in Kim's silence on the other end of the phone but that being said they both knew the girls had done the wrong thing. "But there's no reason we can't go and fix it. Even if that does mean facing Sister Mary Clarence...again.

"Thanks Abs. I'll make it up to you I promise. I'll make beautiful baby clothes and linens and anything that you want." She said excitedly. Abby had to smile.

"What about a little black baby onesy for a newborn with a skull on it." She said with a grin. There was silence for a brief moment before Kim said enthusiastically.

"Anything you want. I'll even make hats to match." Abby giggled.

"Relax Kim, I was only joking." She said.

"Oh thank God. I don't think I'd like a baby in black." She said with relief.

"Well then I guess we better get to the school before Sister gets even angrier." Abby said already shutting down her machines.

Upstairs the elevator stopped at the bullpen and Abby got out while still holding open the door. She could see Tim not too far away so decided to not get all the way off. "Tim I'm leaving a bit early, Jess and Maddie have got in a little trouble at school.I'm meeting Kim there. I'll pick up the kids and see you at home." She said.

"What did they do?" he asked with a frown. Abby rolled her eyes.

"Something to do with attracting Kyle and Michael's attention. They carved hearts in a tree." She said wincing.

"With a KNIFE?" Tim asked incredulously. "Whoa. They weren't hurt?"

"Nope not yet." Abby said. Tim grinned.

"You sure your ok to handle this?" he asked.

"Yep. Better go." She said. "I'll fill you in tonight."

"Ok. See if you can have a lie down before dinner." He said.

"Yeah." Abby said with an almost smile. "I am a little tired."

As she pulled up outside the school Abby could see Kim waiting in her car. When Abby knocked gently on her window Kim got out. The two briefly hugged before walking towards the school office. Neither of them were thrilled about facing the Sister and neither really had a clue what to do about the girls. They'd just have to take it one step at a time.

They both took a seat outside the Principal's office and waited for the heavy wooden door to creak open. They didn't have to wait long.

"Mrs McGee and Mrs Gibbs. We meet again." Sister Mary Clarence said with a smug smile as she stood back and ushered them into the office.

TBC


	106. Chapter 106

I would like to thank everyone for their reviews and alerts. I really appreciate them. I love to know what you're thinking. I hope you enjoy this chapter, just please try and remember that the characters are ficticious and no children were really harmed in the writing of this story. That being said, I have to give credit to Maudlin Muse who came up with this fantastically inspirational plot for revenge. Please direct all your complaints to her LOL. No don't. She's really a lovely person with a slightly evil mind and I can never thank her enough for her help.

Chapter 106

Sometime between Recess and Lunch...

After scolding the girls for doing something so reckless, Sister Mary Clarence had sent them back to class so that she could have a think about what to do with them. She frankly had no idea. The same incident in an older child would have to be considered very serious indeed. But although this pair could be mischievous and manipulative and downright naughty, she hadn't been able to see this as an act of any sort of violence. Nor had the breaching of the school rules been deliberate. However...most of the student body had been aware of what they'd done, so the matter couldn't be ignored either. A rule had been broken and a serious one.

Sister Mary had shaken her head, sometimes she longed for the old days where she would have smacked their bottoms and had done with it. She didn't want to suspend them, such young children losing days at a time out of their education was as ridiculous as such young children chasing boys. Especially these two, who had both been suspended already... Finally, after much deliberation and soul searching and a quick word with the man Himself, the Sister had nodded and smiled. She had decided what to do. For the rest of the week she would have two little shadows. She would have two desks brought in here and she would teach them herself. An in-school suspension of sorts. With the decision made, she had rung both Mrs McGee and Mrs Gibbs.

Present time...

"Sister"...Abby and Kim had muttered in unison as they walked into the office past the smirking Principal. Although they were adults, neither woman felt comfortable enough to take a seat until the Sister motioned towards the two chairs in front of her desk.

"Take a seat ladies please." Kim cringed when the Sister sat herself, and then pushed the offending knife across her desk towards them. "Either of you recognise this knife?"

"That would be mine Sister... I'm.. sorry. I had absolutely no idea that Maddie had taken it." Kim stammered. Sister Mary Clarence reached across the wide desk and patted Kim's hand. Both Abby and Kim were stunned by such an obvious and unusual show of understanding.

"I never actually thought that you did Mrs Gibbs." Sister Mary said. "However..." Oh here it comes Abby thought. And She's back."You're children are somewhat ...inventive, for want of a better word, and it may be an idea to keep a closer eye on them in the future. Goodness knows what will be next." Abby and Kim looked at each other. Although it felt a bit like an insult, there wasn't very much you COULD say in defence of your seven year olds coming to school with a knife.

"Sorry Sister." They said again in unison.

"And if you'd like a piece of advice...the boy thing needs to be nailed on the head. Immediately." She said in the haughty tone they knew so well. Once again...what could they say?

"Yes Sister." Abby said.

"You're right Sister." Kim said. They were both nodding their heads like they'd been practicing. Well they kind of did get lots of practice, but not on purpose.

"Now for my decision on their punishment." The Sister said. "I have decided the girls will spend the rest of the week in my office. I will have some desks brought in here and I will teach them myself. And we will all have a break. There won't be any opportunity for them to find trouble under my watch." Abby smiled. So did Kim. They didn't have to look at each other to know what each other were thinking. It was the same thing. God I hope not...but don't turn your back. Inside Abby's head she added. Sorry I didn't mean to say God to the Nun, I meant to say Gee I hope not...aww that's worse, that's lying to a Nun. Actually I did mean it. For God's sake AND yours Sister don't turn your back on them.

Sister Mary Clarence then stood and opened the door as if she knew by magic that the two in question would be waiting on the other side.

Jess's face crumpled when she saw her Mommy's face. Abby felt a tiny bit sorry for her, she hated that she was obviously scared, but for the most part she was just plain old mad. Breaking a school rule was one thing but there was no excuse for playing with a knife or for once again going along with one of Maddie's schemes. Assuming that that was what had happened.

Maddie for her part wasn't scared at all. She was more relieved than anything that it was her Mommy here and not her Daddy. He would've spanked her for sure for this. Yep, things couldn't have worked out better. Her Mommy was easy to get around. Not as easy as she used to be but still ALOT easier than her Daddy. Still after a sideways glance at Jess, Maddie thought a few tears might not be such a bad idea. But unlike Jess's quiet genuine tears of remorse, Maddie's cries were loud and fake and she had to cover her face with her hands to hide the fact that there WERE no tears. It was all just noise. An obvious fact that she didn't need to hide.

"I'm SORRYYY!" she wailed. "I di...dn...'t kn...ow it was wrong!...I..." Realising that she may be shouldering the blame she changed to a plural "WE was just...bein...nice...to...the boys." Abby narrowed her eyes. God she'd love to get hold of that little brat for five minutes. So would the Sister judging from the look on her face. Poor Jess had been sucked in again no doubt. But no Abby thought. Not good enough. They'd talked about this over and over. They needed to nail this on the head as well as the boy thing. Maddie wasn't going anywhere and although she'd changed she could still be a little devil. If Jess didn't learn to say no...what trouble was she going to let herself be lead into when she was older? She was jolted out of her inner thoughts though by a stern voice that didn't come from either Sister Mary Clarence or herself.

"Stop that noise this instant before I give you something to really cry about!" Kim said in her best pissed off voice. And it wasn't an act. She had grown a lot since her marriage to Gibbs and she was starting to see Maddie through different eyes. Although she adored her daughter and would still do anything to make her happy...she was not going to let that be at everyone else's expense. She'd managed to get Jess in trouble...again...at school and at home no doubt by the look on Abby's face. And the boys. Those poor boys, to be embarrassed like that in front of their friends. She and Gibbs were supposed to be taking care of them while their parents were away. Not setting them up to be tortured by Maddie. The fake tears were the straw that broke the camel's back. She'd had enough of this manipulation. It was going to stop. Now. Maddie was stunned. Who was this woman and what had she done with her mother.

"Thankyou Sister Mary. I think that's an excellent idea." Kim said. The Sister gave herself an internal shake. That had been a surprise to put it mildly. She'd been prepared for the usual pleading on Maddie's behalf and not only had it not come but Mrs Gibbs had actually been able to stop Maddie in her tracks. She was as impressed as Abby. She smiled and patted Kim's hand again. This time with approval. "We'll leave you to it. Maddie? We'll talk at home." Kim said with a withering glare directed towards her daughter. Maddie gulped.

"So will we Miss Jess. Dry your tears and do what Sister tells you." Jess sniffled and wiped her eyes.

"Yes Mommy." She said sadly.

The boys all sat at their lunch table smiling. Oh they were still mad. Well mad didn't even begin to cover it, but they had formulated a plan of revenge and they were happy with that. Oh yeah. Those little girls would be sooo sorry they had decided to ever embarrass THESE boys. The fact that Maddie and Jess hadn't really been out to embarrass the boys didn't really enter into it. The only thing that mattered was making sure that the END result was worth it, and it would it would. It was a perfect plan.

"You sure you wanna help Dyl?" Michael asked.

"Course he does!" Kyle said incredulously. "How else are we supposed to pull it off?"

"I'm just makin sure he knows he doesn't have to." Michael said. Dyl giggled.

"Ya don't havta argue, I wanna do it." He said. "I wouldn't miss bein in on this prank." Kyle grinned with approval.

"It's gonna be the best ever." Even Michael nodded. It couldn't worked out better if they'd planned it that way. Tomorrow was assembly day and there would never be a better opportunity to get back at those pesky girls.

When they got to their cars Abby grabbed Kim's arm.

"You ok Kim?" she asked. Kim burst into tears.

"Not really. Just when I think she's actually getting better she does something else. She's the most strong minded little...Do you know what she did this morning? She came down to breakfast dressed for school wearing MY stockings and suspenders and A THONG!" She punched Abby playfully in the arm as she doubled over with a fit of laughter.

"Sorry Kim...but...that's...priceless." she said between giggles. Kim was starting to see the funny side. Sort of.

"Jethro spanked her and told her to leave Kyle alone. So now she does this and starts in on Michael! The child is incorrigible! Did you see the look on her face? She was happy it was me! She thought she wasn't in trouble...because it was me! Well she just better look out cos she's in trouble all right. She'll see what trouble she's in." Kim was ranting now and Abby had to force herself to stop laughing. She pulled Kim into a hug and squeezed her tight.

"I never thought I'd have to say these words to you Hon...but you better go and calm down before you deal with her." Then she burst out laughing again and this time Kim joined her.

"Who would have thought?" she said.

"Not me." Abby said giggling as she climbed into her car. "Let's go and have coffee and then we'll come back to pick them up. Well YOU can have coffee, I'll have...something gross, I guess.

A couple of hours later it was a calmer and more refreshed pair of Mommies that waited at the gate for their children. The boys came out first and surprisingly were all smiles. In retrospect that should have set off warning bells but it didn't. Kim pulled the twins into a hug and Abby cringed. She tried to signal Kim about the whole no touching in public thing but it was too late. The boys finally managed to extract themselves from Kim's guilt wracked embrace and they jumped into the car with red faces. They didn't really blame her. She was a grown up and grown ups sometimes just didn't get it. Kyle gave Dyl a silent meaningful look and he patted his pocket before climbing into his Mom's car.

The girls finally came out...slowly. Neither of them were looking forward to facing the music at home. Especially Maddie. She had to deal with Kyle and Michael as well, and judging from the look he gave her from the car window, she was pretty sure he didn't wanna be her boyfriend yet.

"Front seat Maddie and do not even attempt to harass either of those boys." She said.

"Get in the car please Jess." Abby said. Jess did as she was told. As she turned in her seat to buckle her belt Dyl narrowed his eyes at her.

"You are such a duffuss Jess." He said. Her eyes filled with tears but she didn't say anything, she just stared sadly out the window. Dyl felt a little twinge of guilt but pushed it away when he thought of all the kids laughing at his friends. They hadn't deserved that. No Jess and Maddie deserved everything they got.

As Kim turned onto the main road she said to Maddie.

"When we get home you march straight up to your room and wait for me." Kyle looked at Michael and smiled. Kim saw but still didn't suspect anything. So they got that Maddie was going to get a spanking and were happy about it, who wouldn't be in their place?

A similar conversation was happening in the other car.

"Jess when we get home go straight to your room and stand in the corner and wait for me ok?" Abby said. Jess nodded as a fresh bout of tears ran down her flushed pink cheeks.

Maddie wasn't crying. In fact she was feeling a little mad herself. Why was her Mommy bein so mean to her? She cried an everything and her Mommy didn't even care. When they pulled up the driveway she jumped out of the car, slammed the door and stomped up the steps to her room.

"You boys can get a snack if you like. I'm just gonna go talk to Maddie." Kim said as she headed for the stairs. She opened the door and found Maddie sitting on the bed with her arms crossed, a familiar looking pout on her face.

"You can lose the look right now Miss." She said as she pushed the door closed. It took all of her inner strength to not let her anger build up again. So much so that she didn't notice that Kyle had stuck the corner of a thin book in the door to prevent it from shutting all the way. He and Michael were now perched right outside the door with a cell phone ready to record the action.

Abby and her two kids went inside the house and she didn't have to tell Jess twice. She was already halfway up the stairs.

"You want something to eat Dyl?" she asked.

"I'm just gonna grab a banana and start on my homework." he said as he grabbed one off the dish and headed up the stairs. He left his own door open just a crack so he'd hear his Mom cross into Jess room, which didn't take long. He was already waiting with the thin book in his hand and the phone in his pocket. He'd taken off his shoes so that he was easily able to sneak across without making any noise. As soon as Abby disappeared inside Jess's room he stuck the book in the door to prevent it from closing just like Kyle had suggested, and then took the phone from his pocket.

Back at the Gibbs house Kim was lecturing a not very sorry Maddie.

"What you did today Maddie was so wrong. Firstly taking the knife at all was wrong. Mostly because it's so dangerous, but it also doesn't belong to you and you have to stop helping yourself to things." Maddie had the good grace to look down at that. "Now I'm not going to go into a thousand reasons why but I'm telling you enough with the boyfriend rubbish. You leave those boys and every other boy alone. You're too young to have a boyfriend and it stops NOW. Clear?" Maddie nodded.

"But..."

"No buts. And you are not to talk Jess into anything she doesn't want to do again. I know this was your idea because YOU brought the knife to school. Maybe you should start to listen to Jess a little more. She's been trying to stay out of trouble and now she's probably gonna get spanked and that's down to you Maddie. I love you and your Daddy loves you but we will not let you use other people to get what you want."

"I didn't..." Maddie tried to say.

"You did. And you managed to cause a lot of trouble in the process." Before Maddie could think of an answer she found herself staring at the carpet.

"NOoooo." Was all she could think of at that moment as her Mommy's hand came down hard on her now stinging bottom. It hurt. Even through her school dress it hurt. Maddie screamed and kicked and wailed as her Mommy relentlessly paddled her message into Maddie's rear end with a hand that was harder than Maddie had ever realised. By the time Kim stood her up in front of her she was sobbing.

"I'm sor...ry...Mommy. I won't...do...it again." She said through her sobs. Kim hugged her tight and soothed her, relieved at last to hear some genuine remorse.

Kyle and Michael looked at each other and smiled as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh yeah. That was some show." Kyle said. Michael nodded.

"It sure was. Just seeing that was almost enough." He said. Then they both laughed.

"Nah." Kyle said. "It's way too good to waste."

Abby went over to the corner and took Jess hand and lead her back to the bed.

"Do you know why you're in trouble Jess?" Abby asked gently. Jess nodded.

"I fink so." She said. "Cos I drawed on the tree with a knife an I'm not allowed to. And cos i listened to Maddie again when I shouldn't."

"That's right. Did you at any point think that it was the wrong thing to do?" she asked. Jess thought for a minute and then nodded. I had a bad feeling but Maddie was gettin mad and she said that it must be ok cos other people had done done it."

"So what was the main reason you did what you did?" Abby asked.

"Cos I didn't want Maddie to be mad." Jess said.

"And that's why you're getting a spanking. As you get older there might be times when Maddie or someone else tries to make you do something that you know or have a feeling is wrong. You have to learn to say no." Abby settled Jess over her knee and brought her hand down with a hard whack right in the centre of her bottom. Jess squealed.

"No Mommy it hurts. Please." Abby hardened herself to Jess pleas by reminding herself what could have happened with the knife and what might happen in the future if she didn't learn to stand on her own two feet. She took a big breath and resumed the spanking. Ignoring the crying and the kicking, she managed to hold her in place as she brought her hand down over and over. By the time she was finished Jess had a very well warmed rear end and was in no doubt that she would never listen to any of Maddie's dumb ideas again.

"I'm sorry Mommy." She said as she jumped up and down rubbing her bottom.

"I know you are Jess. Just remember that feeling next time ok?" Abby said as she pulled her into a tight hug.

"I will." Jess said sadly and she meant it.

Dyl switched off the phone and went to his room. He sent a quick message to Kyle.

"Done."

At school the next morning the boys could hardly contain their excitement. The next part was up to Michael, who was the wiz at computers. Luckily their class was in charge of the assembly that morning which gave him ample opportunity to upload the pictures. Michael was normally quiet and studious so the teacher didn't think twice about letting him have access to the computer when he told her he needed to check if the right hymns were set for the assembly. They were set alright. They all new there'd be trouble over this. They weren't stupid, but God it was gonna be worth it.

When the assembly finally began the boys could hardly keep still. All the student body were seated in their class groups except for a smattering of kids who either had stuff to read or were doing things behind the scenes. Like Michael, who was working the computer. Dyl was sitting with his class and so was Kyle. The girls were sitting next to Sister Mary Clarence who was getting ready to address the group.

The Sister welcomed everyone to the assembly and led them in the first prayer and then took her seat as the first couple of children stood up and read their pieces of news or sports reports. The moment was almost there and the boys could hardly keep still. The lights were lowered and the large screen lit up and the children all stood as the first hymn was about to begin. But instead of the words to the hymns up on the screen while the accompanying music played, the special show began. Pictures flashed from Maddie to Jess over their mother's knees getting their backsides spanked. For once in her life Sister Mary Clarence was speechless and had no idea what to do. She normally loved this part of the week. The children all singing God's songs was soothing to the soul. But instead of the soothing music of the chosen hymns, the room was filled with two little girls begging and wailing. Thankfully the fifth grade teacher was more adept with the modern equipment and she ran across the stage and the show was brought to a halt. Unfortunately, the impromptu home movie had already brought the house down and nearly everyone in the room had already completely lost control of themselves. NOTHING had ever happened like that at school before.

Three people however were lost for words and sat with their mouths agape. Sister Mary Clarence, Maddie and Jess.

TBC


	107. Chapter 107

I would like to thank everyone for the lovely reviews and alerts. It really does help when you tell me what you think. I may not always totally agree but even if I don't it gives me something to think about. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter, you may want to make a coffee...it's a long one. Read and review :)

As always, I would like to thank my friend and writing partner...the Maudlin Muse :)

Chapter 107

It took her a pained couple of minutes to recover but recover she did. Spying a yardstick out of the corner of her eye, Sister Mary Clarence leapt out of her seat and swiped it up in a single movement. In all the years since she had been a novice she had dealt with children. All kinds of children, all kinds of situations. Anything that could be imagined in the way of naughtiness and mischievousness. She THOUGHT that she'd run the complete gamut of emotions, but she'd been wrong in that assumption. Never before had she felt such an overwhelming desire to throttle a child ...or children actually and she knew EXACTLY which children did this. She pounded the shiny wooden stage floor hard with the stick several times and the room gradually quietened.

"Silence!" she bellowed and any last tittering ceased immediately. And when she bellowed there was not a man woman or child in the school hall that doubted who was in charge.

Miss Kelly appeared from nowhere, tears in her eyes as she gathered her two wounded babies and lead them backstage. They may have driven her crazy at times, but they were still hers and it broke her heart to see them humiliated into total white faced silence this way.

The atmosphere in the room had changed abruptly and silence now filled the large airy wood lined room. Even the many portraits that adorned the walls seemed to focus on the once again formidable Sister Mary Clarence.

"Teachers, please take your children back to their classrooms." Dyl and Kyle both jumped from their seats and in a last ditch effort to avoid a certain death, tried to join their class lines. "Dylan McGee! Kyle Dinozzo! Freeze! When we find wherever your accomplice has been hiding, you will be joining me in my office." She said with her eyes narrowed. Both boys could almost feel the angry daggers burning through them from her intense glare. She didn't move a muscle but said in a quiet but very scary voice. "Michael Dinozzo come out from wherever you are.. this instant!" Michael's now pallid face framed by his tussled hair peaked out from behind the curtain.

"How nice." The Sister said acidly. "The gang is all finally here. Come along!" she said as she swept off the stage and made a beeline for her office. She still hadn't put down the stick and none of the boys could take their eyes off it as they as they followed in the angry Principals wake. Only Kyle dared to speak in what he thought was a miniscule whisper.

"We are in some DEEP shit!" he said practically under his breath. Sadly he'd underestimated the superhuman powers of hearing of most nuns', specially this one. Sister Mary Clarence turned as she reached the door.

"THAT, Mr Dinozzo is an understatement. And THAT language won't help." Kyle looked at his feet as he mumbled.

"Sorry Sister." His blonde curls flopped down over his face and he couldn't bring himself to move them to look directly at the Sister who was most scary when she was quiet like this. The Sister sighed.

"Rest assured young man, I'm sure you will be." She brought the stick slowly and deliberatively back to allow them to enter her office and it took all the powers that be, even under the circumstances, to not smile as they each, one by one scooted sideways to get around her and keep away from that stick.

Gibbs and Tim had been in MTAC when the Sister had tried to call them, so she had had no choice but to contact Dyl's Mom and Mrs Gibbs for the Dinozzo twins. She had paperwork advising that the Gibbs' would be acting in loco parentis while their parents were away. That information didn't exactly make her smile but it was enough to twitch the edges of her pursed lips. How ironic and how not very astute a decision to torture a child when you are staying with said child's parents. Especially when one of the parents was Jethro Gibbs.

When the girls were in trouble it hadn't been much of a stretch to take over the punishment, they had done the wrong thing, but there was no malice involved. This time though, Abby and Kim were completely distraught over what had happened, and they had no intention of dealing with the boys. Abby was past being just angry. She was livid. She loved Dyl with her whole heart and it was because of that love that she was finding it hard to come to terms with the fact that he had played such a vicious prank on his sister. He must have stood outside the door and taken footage on his phone. She had to sit down for a quick minute. She thought she was going to be sick. It didn't take her long to settle her self though and hot foot it up to the bullpen and Tim. All she wanted to do at this point was to get to Jess and gather her in her arms and hold her tight. Tim could deal with Dyl.

Kim was equally as upset. A very small part of her was frustrated that Maddie had unwittingly started all this, but she was young child and nothing she had done deserved this treatment. Nothing. She'd made a mistake and been punished for it, she didn't deserve to have that witnessed by the whole school. Especially by children that were guests in their home. The fact that they'd used that position to spy on her and Maddie filled her with such anger that she wouldn't trust herself to deal with them. Were they even supposed to? They weren't their kids. They should just ring Tony and Ziva and tell them to come and get their sneaky little brats. But then she remembered what her young friends were going through and recanted that thought. She wasn't up to it, but Jethro sure as hell would be and God help them, she thought. Not even bothering to get her obvious distress under control first, she picked up the phone and punched in the number on the top of her speed dial.

As they left MTAC and headed for the bullpen Gibbs and Tim could see Abby muttering to herself, pacing and wringing her hands. As Tim approached, Abby burst into tears and threw herself into his arms. Just as Gibbs was going to ask whatever was wrong, his cell rang.

"Kim... honey slow down...Calm down and start at the beginning."

At the same time, Abby was blurting the story out between sobs to Tim whose face was ashen. He didn't know what to think, say or do. On one hand he wanted nothing more than to tan Dylan backside all the way home and then some, he wouldn't mind even having a pop at the twins either. Of all the stupid irresponsible, just plain mean things to do... But the other part of him felt completely broken at the thought of what his baby girl must have been feeling as the images flashed up on the screen and the kids all started laugh. He wasn't happy either at the state that this had got Abby in. He pulled her into a loving hug.

"Don't worry Abs we'll fix this." He said. Abby's mood changed abruptly.

"THIS doesn't need fixing, DYLAN does and you better fix him good this time." She spat. Tim breathed a sigh of relief. He'd much rather have a pissed Abby than a broken one.

Gibbs hung up and looked at the two of them but said nothing at first.

"What're you gonna do Boss?" Tim asked. "About the twins I mean...Ring Tony and Ziva?" Gibbs was already putting on his coat and preparing to leave.

"Nope. I don't think we need to bother just yet. I'll handle it...for now...Can't speak for what happens when they get back...they're not gonna be impressed, but it's done. No point in ruining their break. Their share will keep. First it my turn." And with that he stalked towards the elevator. "You commen? I said we'd pick up Kim." Tim and Abby scrambled after Gibbs, happy at least that he seemed to be clear of mind. Inside though Gibbs wasn't as clear headed and calm as he seemed. There was no doubt he was keeping himself well under control. It was the role he was used to and he didn't mind. Besides, it was necessary so that he didn't end up killing those two raggedy headed little monsters. He had a good mind to take em for a damn marine hair cut. That'd fix their little red wagons for em.

It was Gibbs and Tim who waited outside Sister Mary Clarence's office on the uncomfortable wooden benches.

"There could be an explanation." Tim said hopefully, looking at Gibbs for some kind of reassurance. At his Boss's satirical glare he closed his eyes...and his mouth. They both knew that there was no explanation that could justify this mess. His nervousness not allowing him to stay quiet however Tim asked quietly. "Do ya think they'll get expelled?" Gibbs now closed his eyes. Great. He hadn't even considered that. He didn't know what was wrong with Tony and Ziva but he knew that that news wouldn't help. He just had to hope that the Sister would show a little mercy.

Sister Mary had been keeping the boys amused in her own SPECIAL way. Nothing like a few stories to calm the nerves when young ones were waiting for their parents, or in this case parents and guardians. Although judging by the three very nervous little boys that were standing now in three different corners of her office, perhaps the stories may have had the opposite effect. Of course Sister Mary HAD forgotten to put the yard stick down while she was telling them the stories. AND the stories just happened to be about school a long while ago...Actually, she may have mentioned how they used to deal with naughty children, she may have even FORGOTTEN to mention that that type of punishment was strictly forbidden now. Of course she had no intention of laying a finger on any of the boys...although she would dearly have loved to have cracked that stick over each of their bottoms, she never would... But they didn't need to know that.

When the intercom flashed and the secretary's voice came through. "Mr Gibbs and Mr McGee Sister." The boys all started shuffling and wriggling, Dyl even brushed away a tear. He wasn't stupid. He'd broken at least two really big rules... the pranking and not leaving what happens at home at home. His ass was grass and he knew it. Not to mention that he probably wouldn't see his phone again until he was 15 or something. He just hoped they didn't hate him.

Kyle and Michael just looked at the ground. Both of them doing their best to keep themselves together. Unlike Dyl, they had no idea what was gonna happen. Would their parents come home? Would Gibbs spank them? Kyle didn't even know what to hope for. His Dad was gonna be seriously pissed. But then so was Gibbs...and Kim. Thinking of Kim made him brush a tear from his eye too as he heard himself say. "I would never really hurt her." He'd meant it at the time but he'd meant physically. But what they'd done had hurt her more than a push or a shove ever could. And there was Jess. Probably wasn't even her fault much at all. His anger now sated the whole thing seemed kinda wrong, but the damage had been done.

Michael felt bad too, but he had the added guilt of knowing this was his big idea. What had he been thinking? He knew what his Dad would say to that...Clearly he hadn't been thinking at all. This was bigger trouble than they had ever been in and it had to be while they were staying with Gibbs. And they did it to Gibbs' daughter...the same one that Kyle managed to get burnt last time. But this time it had been HIS idea and Kyle had gone along. Well...gone along and encouraged...well actually prodded. And Dyl hadn't exactly been dragged but still...This was bad. Really bad. When it came down to it, it had been his idea and he'd been the one to move the stuff on the computer and replace it with their show. They were so dead meat. HE was even deader meat. He was hamburger. Dead burnt hamburger on a grill. That's what he was. As the door creaked open he jumped, but quickly quietened himself and went back to staring at the carpet. Maybe if he went into a trance or something he'd float off into another time a place and be...somewhere else. Anywhere but here.

"You three boys may wait outside while I talk to your fath...to Mr Gibbs and Mr McGee." She said. As each of them turned around they stole a sideways glance at each other. "And there will NO TALKING." All three went to shuffle out hoping to do so as invisibly as possible. Not a chance in hell that was happening.

"I believe the Sister spoke to you boys." Gibbs barked.

"Sorry Sister. Yes Sister." Came staggered from the three. As Dyl passed him Tim touched his shoulder and Dyl had no choice but to look up from where his eyes were focused on the ground. No words were really wanted or were necessary or even going to be enough, Tim just wanted to look into his son's eyes for some answers. Sadly he found them. Dyl's eyes filled with tears as he followed the others into the outer office.

When Jess saw Abby she flew across the room and Abby swept her up. Jess cried quietly into her Mommy's special spider web as Abby rocked her.

"Every...one...laugh...ed...at ...us. They...saw..." she sobbed.

"I know." Abby said. "Shhh...it's gonna be ok."

"How...how?" Jess tried to say, but she really didn't know what the question was. She didn't understand any of it. How the pictures came to be up there.

Abby looked over at Kim who had just realised the same thing. Neither of the girls realised who did this. They were gonna have to tell them, it would be all around school.

"Jess...the boys didn't like it when you wrote their names on the tree. They decided to play a very naughty trick. And they're going to be in a lot of trouble. It was mean and nasty." Jess was stunned.

"It was Kyle and Michael that putted the pictures up there?" she said wide eyed. Abby really hated the next part.

"Some of it and...Dylan helped them." Jess's eyes filled with fresh tears.

"Dyl?" She found it hard to comprehend that her Dyl would do this to her. Abby nodded.

"I'm so sorry Jess. But you know what? In a couple of days this'll be old news. Everyone will have forgotten all about it." A light suddenly went on behind Maddie's eyes and she jumped off her Mommy's knee.

"It was those dumb boys?" she said hands on her hips her eyes narrowed, but not enough to hide the sparks that were flying. "I hate them!" And with that she kicked the chair and burst into tears. Kim picked her up and sat her back down on her knee.

"Abby's right Maddie, those boys did a very naughty thing and they'll be punished." She said as calmly as she could make her voice sound. It wasn't really enough to appease Maddie.

"Can we take pictures and show them in assembeelly?" she asked bitterly.

"No honey. You know we can't do that." Kim said. Abby almost grinned. It was nothing more than they deserved. Hell it'd serve them right if she put it on YouTube.

Maddie crossed her arms and went into one of her famous pouts.

"Then it's not enough." She said. There wasn't really an answer to that, so they gathered up the girls and took them home. Abby thankfully had brought their car not knowing how long the others were going to be and she dropped off Kim and Maddie before heading home herself. Gibbs would drop Tim and Dylan off later. The later the better as far as Abby was concerned. She had no idea what to even say the boy.

Sister Mary Clarence motioned for the men to take a seat.

"This is a VERY serious matter." She said grimly. "What those boys did goes against everything we try to teach in this school. Not to mention that they interfered with school property AND MY ASSEMBLY. They made a total mockery of something that should be reverent and peaceful. They showed no respect for any member of the staff, the student body or EVEN...there own family and friends. But that I'll leave you to deal with. ...But I do hope that you can convey the importance of loyalty, a sense of family, and respect, because without those things, they may as well have nothing else in life." Tim was sweating. He could feel his ears going red and his mind was whirling as he tried desperately to come up with something to say...he had nuthin.

"I'm sorry Sister." Was the best he could come up with. "I can assure you that nothing like this will ever happen again." There that was a bit better. The Sister gave Tim a sympathetic look.

"I'm sure you'll try. And I hope you succeed, but it isn't only this act you need to work on, it's the lack of self control." Tim nodded, he was all out of useless answers and he was anxious to cut to he chase. Gibbs looked up to find the Sister's eyes boring into him now.

"Sister these are not my kids, but I love them like I do Maddie." He looked at Tim. "That includes Dyl." Tim smiled blandly. "So I can assure you, that by the time we've finished with these boys and Tony's had a go...aint gonna be ANY repeat of this or anything like it." Sister Mary Clarence took a big breath and then exhaled slowing in a blowing motion.

"Big question is...what do we do about it?...You know I'd be within my rights to expel them...But I won't. I have a better idea. I may regret this, but they can join me as well. I'll have my own little class. Dylan, Michael, Kyle, Maddie and Jess. Only the boys will be with me for two weeks." Gibbs and Tim breathed a sigh of relief. For a minute. Until it dawned on them that none of them were gonna be too happy about being together all week. They both hoped that didn't mean more trouble.

They thanked the Sister and shook her hand and then collected the boys on the way out. None of them said a word until they were in the car. Dyl tried first.

"Dad...I'm..." he started. Tim spun around and narrowed his eyes.

"Save it. We'll discuss this at home." Then as an after thought he spun back a second time. "But you can hand me your phone." Dyl pulled his phone out of his pocket and gave to his Dad. "Thankyou." Kyle gave Dyl a sympathetic look which Gibbs didn't miss.

"Eyes ahead. There'll be no communication between prisoners." He grumbled. Michael stared blankly out of the window.

When they pulled up outside Tim and Abby's house Gibbs raised his eyebrows at Tim who gave him a miniscule nod. There had been no need to discuss even punishments. They both new how this had to be handled. Not with kid gloves that's for sure. As the car pulled away Tim looked down at Dyl.

"I have never been more disappointed in you." He said. Tears sprung to Dyl's eyes.

"I'm sorry... Is... she ok?" he said quietly. Even he realised at his age that it was probably too little too late.

"What do you think?" Tim asked. "She was totally humiliated in front of the entire school. I'm thinking she's probably just peachy. Go up to your room and wait. And while you're there you can try and remember what I think about PRANKS. And about leaving what happens in this house in this house."

"Yes Dad." Dyl said as he dragged himself inside and up the stairs. As he reached the top of the stairs he met his Mom. She was pissed.

"What do you have to say for yourself Dylan McGee?" she said with her hands on her hips.

"Mom...I didn't...I'm sorry...I...I'm sorry." He said. He couldn't hold it back any more, he burst into tears and launched himself at Abby. She couldn't help giving him a small hug back, but when Tim came up the stairs and frowned at her she pushed him away gently.

"Go and wait in your room for your Dad now Dyl." She said with a husky voice. She had to admit that he had moved her, but not enough to evoke much sympathy. He was in big trouble and he deserved it.

"Hey." Tim said. "You ok?" Abby nodded. "How's Jess?"

"Asleep. She was pretty upset about being laughed at, but more because it was the boys that did it. Especially Dyl." She said. "What's the verdict?"

"In school suspension like the girls. But longer."

"Wow. I thought she'd throw the book at them. Oooh. There might be trouble though. Maddie's seriously pissed at the boys." Tim actually grinned.

"And life just keeps getting more interesting." Abby kissed his cheek and then headed for the stairs.

"Tag Tim. Your turn. Better check for paparazzi first." She said, and she wasn't entirely joking. Tim rolled his eyes and headed for Dyl's room.

When they pulled up outside his house, Gibbs turned. "We're gonna take care of this and then I have to go back to work for a while. Kyle you first. Michael...you wait on the sofa until your brother comes to fetch you." He said.

"Yes sir." He said quietly. He felt sick. His brother was about to get a spanking. That was nothing unusual, but it WAS unusual that it was his fault. What had he been thinking. As they went in the house and Gibbs followed Kyle up the stairs, Michael found his way to the couch quietly, hoping to make himself invisible or not heard at least...or both. He didn't dare put on the TV, he just sat with his eyes closed hoping that when he opened them it all would have been a bad dream.

Gibbs motioned for Kyle to sit on the bed. He scrubbed his hand through his hair and paced up and down. Finally he took a deep breath and spoke.

"Kyle...you've had some pretty out there ideas for pranks and fun but this...what the HELL were you thinking? When did you decide that doing that to the girls AT ALL... let alone in the assembly in front of the whole school...when did you decide that that would be a good idea?" Kyle looked up sharply. For once it HADN'T been his idea. Michael had thought of it. Well too late now to do anything about that. Anyway, after the amount of times that he'd roped Michael into stuff, he guessed he owed him one. But geez, it had to be this one...with Gibbs. Gibbs booming voice shook him out of his daydreaming...fast. "I spoke to you son and I expect an answer!"

"I...I dunno." Kyle said in a voice that reminded Gibbs that he was still only a young boy. He was willing to cover for his brother, but he'd rather not lie to Gibbs if he could help it.

"That isn't an answer and you know it." Gibbs said. "Now when was this mess cooked up, where and WHY?" Gibbs said in a clipped tone, his impatience for Kyle's obvious hedging had started to grate on his nerves. Ok, just answer the questions Kyle thought.

" Yesterday at lunch, in the cafeteria, because the girls wrote lovey dovey stuff on the tree and everyone was laughing at us and we were mad. I'm sorry." He said again not looking directly at the foreboding man that was now towering above him. Gibbs narrowed his eyes, something was a little off here. Still, didn't make a great deal of difference who the mastermind was. None of them had gone into this with their eyes shut.

"Sorry isn't gonna cut it. You damn near broke two little girls hearts because they embarrassed you. They'd already BEEN punished. APPARENTLY, you witnessed it anyway so you know that!" Kyle cringed. Why did adults always manage to make things that were supposed to have been fun sound so terrible. "Not to mention that you abused our hospitality, our trust and our privacy." He shook his head. "Stand up." He was done talking. Taking his place on the bed he tipped Kyle over his knee and brought his hand down hard. "You can think yourself lucky you're not my child or you'd be losing your pants...But don't be surprised if you do lose them when your Dad gets hold of you!" That was the final straw for Kyle who now started openly sobbing.

"Ow, ow! Your gonna spank me AND...tell...OW...Mom...OW and Dad?...OW OW OW OW ".

"You bet I am." Gibbs said as he concentrated in the one spot for several times in a row. Kyle yelled blue murder, but kick and cry and shout out as he did, Gibbs didn't stop until his yells turned to quiet sobs. He stood him up between his legs and pulled him into a hug. "It's ok now. Come on." Kyle sniffed. "Not the most dignified position to be in is it?" He asked gently. Kyle shook his head.

"Would you want it on the screen in assembly?" If he hadn't already got it, he did at that point and he felt terrible. So much so that he didn't really care if Gibbs told his Mom and Dad. At that point all he wanted was to go home. He wanted his Mom.

"Do you think... my Dad's... gonna be real mad?" he asked. Gibbs couldn't help but smirk.

"OH yeah...Hope it was worth it." He said. But your Mom is gonna be PISSED, he thought. "By the way, you owe Abby, Jess, Maddie and Kim a major apology and you better make it good."

"Yes Gibbs." He said. "And Gibbs? Michael? He misses Mom..." he said hoping that Gibbs wouldn't be too hard on his brother.

Over at the McGee's house Tim entered Dyl's room to find him staring miserably out of the window.  
"Won't help you know." Tim said. "You can't run, we'll always find you."

"Wasn't gonna run." Dyl said. "I was just thinkin is all."

"Thinking about what exactly." Tim said.

"Thinking how lucky that Toby is that he was away sick." He said.

"Mmmm. You think he may have been involved too?" His Dad asked. Dyl shrugged.

"Maybe. But he wasn't cos he was lucky enough to get sick."

"Dylan you look at me." Tim said. He had calmed down but that simple little statement had made his anger simmer again. "What happened today had absolutely nothing to do with being in the wrong place at wrong time. It had to do with BAD choices. You chose to film your sister and you chose to give that footage to your friends when you knew damn well what they were going to use it for. She LOVES you and TRUSTS you. You're her big brother and you let her down. Your Mom says that's what made upset her the most. Not only that the whole school saw her getting a spanking and laughed at her but the fact that you betrayed her. Do I even need to mention the PRANKS DYL? How many times have we been here about pranking?" Dylan broke into loud heart broken sobs. Tim felt like a bit of a heel but sometimes people need to hear the truth so they can learn. Even little people. Tim sat down and pulled Dyl up in front of him.

"Pants down." He said Dylan slowly undid his school pants and pulled them down to his knees. Tim pulled him over his knees and settled him and then lowered his underpants.

"Nooooo." Dyl said at the first cool rush of air. Unfortunately he didn't have to worry about the air being cool for long as Tim wasted no time in heating up his rear end. He spanked fast, hard and rhythmically but not in any particular pattern so Dyl didn't know where to expect the pain to land next. Swat after burning swat landed in one place or another turning his bottom a deep shade of pink. No amount of wriggling or kicking or crying made his Dad stop until he was sure he had made his point.

"I'm soooorrry." Was the magic word and Tim pulled Dyl up and helped him fix his clothes. Dyl clung onto his Dad's neck and sobbed loudly. Tim rubbed his back and let him calm down enough to speak. "Does ...she...really hate me?"

"She's hurt and angry Dyl. Unfortunately there's only one person who can fix that." He said. "But she doesn't hate you. She adores you. That's why it hurt so much." Dyl started crying again. "Come on. Enough. You stay in here and I'll bring you some dinner later. In the mean time you try and think of a way to make this up to your Mom and your sister." Dyl nodded.

"I'll try." He said sadly.

While Gibbs was upstairs with Kyle, Maddie wandered into the living room. She tiptoed over to the couch where Michael was sitting with his eyes closed. Narrowing her eyes and drawing her leg back she landed one almighty kick to Michael's shin. He nearly shot of the couch as he yelled "OW!"Once he'd come to his senses though he closed his mouth. He guessed he had that coming really.

"Maddie...I." he started to say, but he was interrupted when Kim came into the room.

"What was that yell?" she asked.

"Nuthin Kim." Michael said. "I...ah...bit my tongue."

"Ok then. If you're ok." She said coolly and went back to the kitchen. Kim could have kicked herself. She knew she'd handled that badly. Fact was she really didn't know how to handle it. She was angry and the kid had hurt her daughter. She wasn't a saint. Maybe she should go and talk to him...No, better to wait until Jethro was finished punishing them. She'd find a way later to fix this.

When he was sure Kim had gone he opened his mouth to try and apologise again. But Maddie got in first.

"I STILL hate you!" she said in a deadly quiet angry voice. With that she spun on her heel and stomped out. Stupid dumb horrible boys! She thought as she went in search of her Mommy. At least her Mommy was being real nice again, she could probably even get some cookies before dinner.

Michael felt a cold rush of fear run through him as his brother appeared in the doorway.

"Your turn Mike." He said. He would have liked to have been able to come up with something to say to comfort him but nuthin would come.

"Did it hurt?" Michael asked. Kyle rolled his eyes. Why'd he have to ask that.

"Yeah." No point in lyin anyway they were twins. He already knew the answer." Michael nodded and walked slowly up the stairs like he was walking to his death.

Gibbs seemed to sense that his hand seemed to be stuck to the door handle, not quite able to turn it.

"Come on in Michael, you have to face me eventually." Gibbs said. Suddenly like a remote had released a lock on the door, it opened and the scared young boy slipped through. Gibbs patted the bed beside him.

"You're a smart boy Michael." he said. Michael said nothing but just stared at the floor. "But...you gotta have more control of yourself. You can't let yourself get caught up with your brother's schemes..." he started to lecture but a small voice interrupted.

"I didn't." he said. Gibbs looked at him incredulously. He was disappointed, he didn't think the kid was gonna lie and try to get out of it.

"Michael! You were caught on the computer!" he said sternly.

"I...that's not what I meant...I..." Tears started to roll down his face. Gibbs obviously thought this was Kyle's fault. Had he spanked him harder because he thought he was to blame? He should have said something in the car. He shouldn't have let Kyle come up here first. "Gibbs...it was my idea..." he said tears now flowing freely down his face. Gibbs was genuinly shocked. He hadn't expected that at all.

"Your idea... Why?" he asked. He was finding it hard to get his mind around Michael being the instigator. Once again, not that it would have made much difference. They were all three of them clearly involved.

"I...I don't like it when everyone looks at...at me. And they were laughing and pointing...I got mad...really mad...but I'm sorry." Gibbs sighed. Damn. He could kind of see it now. Not that it was an excuse. These kids were kind of like Tim and Tony. Now Kyle would have done something more physical, that would be Tony...Michael, he was the Tim of the group, quiet, sensitive and more inclined to seek revenge from more electronic sources. He should have seen that. It was still wrong and the way he chose to execute that wrong wasn't really of consequence here, any more than the way Gibbs was about to bust his ass.

"Look. You boys ALL did the wrong thing. You hurt those little girls badly, you even hurt Abby and Kim who have been nothing but nice to you. You betrayed our trust. Everyone Michael is entitled to their privacy. If Kim had wanted you to see Maddie get spanked she would have done it in the living room. She didn't expect you boys to sneak around and record stuff on your phones to show the whole world. It wasn't the right thing to do. Even if you'd seen it by accident, what happens at home stays at home. It's what families do. It's called loyalty.

"I'm sorry." Michael said sadly.

"I know son, but that isn't enough is it?" Gibbs asked. Michael shook his head and stood up. Gibbs flipped him over his knee and brought his hand down hard much the same as he'd done with his brother. Michael squealed.

"Ow! OW! OW! It hurts Gibbs!" Even thought he was the quieter of the twins he still had nerve endings and his backside was burning like the dickens, which made it impossible for him to keep quiet. Heck it made it impossible for him to control anything. He kicked, squirmed, shouted and cried and when Gibbs eventually stopped, he sobbed gratefully into his shirt as Gibbs held him tight and rubbed circles on his back. He stayed like that for a while, until he could talk.

"Gibbs could I ask you something?" Michael said.

"Course." Gibbs said.

"Did you spank Kyle worse cos you thought it was his fault?"

"Nah. He got about the same as you." Gibbs said. Relief washed over Michael's face.

"Gibbs?" he asked again.

"Yep?"

"Are you gonna tell Mom and Dad?"

"Have to son." Gibbs said.

"How mad do you think they're gonna be?" he asked.

Gibbs smirked. "I think you already know the answer to that question yourself."

"Mmm." Michael said.

"Ok. Your brother's in the office downstairs. Go help him find a way to make this up together... he started, but his phone rang.

"Gibbs!" he barked into the receiver. ... "Ok...Great...we'll see you then." He hung up and looked at Michael who he was sure had turned green. "You and Kyle will be able to confirm your answers about your folks yourselves sooner than you thought. They'll be here in the morning."

Michael gulped. He had a bad feeling about this.

TBC


	108. Chapter 108

I would like to thank everyone again for all the reviews and alerts. I really appreciate them. You might want to make a coffee before you start reading this... it's REALLY long. There just wasn't a good place to break off. I hope it's not too long and I hope you like it. Let us know what you think. I say us because Maudlin Muse and I wrote it together :)

I would also like to thank Maudlin Muse for her invaluable help and support :)

Chapter 108

Michael dragged himself slowly down the stairs rubbing his still burning bottom. That Gibbs sure could whack hard, Michael thought. It wasn't just his backside that was hurting though, he ached inside. As Gibbs' words swirled around his head, combined with the looks on both Maddie and Kim's faces, he just wanted to crawl up into a ball. He'd never realised before what a really terrible person he would end up being. Sure Kyle could do some stuff that got him in trouble, well actually he did that a lot. But, the things Kyle did were just for fun, just messin around. He usually ended up hurting himself more than other people. He wouldna thought of somethin like this on his own. This was ALL him. And the loyalty thing that Gibbs said. Why hadn't he thought of that? It just hadn't occurred to him. And now he was gonna have to face his Mom and Dad. He wasn't as scared of being spanked even...well that was a lie...he was petrified of facing his father and another spanking, but mostly he was scared of seeing the looks on their faces. They left them with their friends and asked them to be good, that's all, and he'd managed to mess that up for him and for Kyle.

Inside the office Kyle was sitting on the chair spinning, while he wracked his brain for some way to make this up to Kim and Maddie. He was commin up blank with every thought. He decided to look at it like a Math problem. To get to the end of any problem you had to start at the beginning right? How the hell had this started? Maddie starin at him. And then the breakfast thing, and then the tree. The God damn tree. Why did they do that? Maddie liked Michael...well she liked Michael now...she USED to like HIM. But she was a BABY! He didn't even like girls. Well he liked some girls but not like like. Well maybe a couple...not MADDIE. Well he did kind of like Maddie. But not like THAT. The door creaked open slowly and Michael slipped in.

"You ok?" Kyle asked, his face etched with worry at the unusual look on his brothers face. Michael shrugged.

"My butt hurts bad." He said.

"Mine too." Kyle said.

"How come you're sittin then?" Michael asked.

"We're supposed to think of a way to make this up to em. Can't think standin up."

"Whatcha come up with?" Michael said.

"That we're totally screwed and it better be a pretty great idea if it's gonna make any of them like us again." Kyle said as he chewed thoughtfully on a pencil. Michael sighed. His brother was right. They were probably kidding themselves if they thought they could make things the same as they used to be. At least with everyone else. Hopefully their Mom and Dad loved them enough to forgive them. That reminded him, as if he could have forgotten.

"Oh...Kyle...Mom and Dad are commin back in the mornin." Michael said wincing.

"Shit!" Kyle said. "Now we really are screwed."

Gibbs went to find his wife and daughter to check in before had to go back to work for a while. There were things he'd left unfinished when he had to leave work to take care of this latest family crisis. He grinned. He wouldn't have it any other way. When he thought of all the lonely nights he'd spent in his basement sanding one boat after another while he drowned his loneliness in a bottle of bourbon, the smell and taste of sawdust filling the air. All the while he would tell himself that it was his favourite time of the day, his peace. As he walked into the kitchen he dragged in a long breath and sighed. This was peace. The smell of dinner simmering on the stove, his wife's perfume lingering in the air as she flitted from one chore to the other, the ironing spray from the uniforms she was preparing for tomorrow and the fruity smell of Maddie's markers as she coloured on the kitchen table near her Mommy. Even the two borrowed naughty boys that were in the office no doubt wracking their brains for an idea to fix this and commen up with nothin. It was all part of it and it was good. He kissed Kim and turned to Maddie who was not really ready to accept this as a perfect moment just yet.

"I hope you spanked those boys but good Daddy!" she said jumping from her chair and putting her hands on her hips. "They were MEAN to me AND Jess!" Gibbs quickly gathered her up and sat in her chair and sat her on his lap.

"Are you ok Maddie?" he asked as he planted a kiss on the top of her head. Maddie sighed dramatically.

"Maybe." She said. "Did you spank them REAL hard?"

"Maddie, that's not your business." He said. Maddie folded her arms.

"Humpff. It wasn't THEIR business when I got spanked either. And LOOK what they did?" she said grumpily. Gibbs turned her to face him. He felt for her he really did but he wasn't gonna let her cop an attitude like that.

"Enough. Remember who you're speaking to. What the boys did to you and Jess was very wrong and they were punished, and they're gonna no doubt be punished again." Gibbs said.

"Good." Maddie said. "They're mean."

"Mmmm. Yes Maddie, what they did was mean. Have you ever done anything to anyone that was mean?" Gibbs asked. Maddie narrowed her eyes, she didn't like where this conversation was going. This was supposed to be about what had been done to her. She shrugged.

"What about when you cut your hair and told the teacher that that little boy did it?" Gibbs asked. Maddie's face went red and she said nothing. "Or the time you took Sarah's bracelet?" Maddie was getting mad now.

"It's not fair. This wasn't my fault. They were being mean to me and you're on their side." She sadly.

"No I'm not. I'm just trying to make you see that there have been times that you've done things wrong before and you've been punished ...and forgiven. That's all." Kim was listening to all this as she continued with her ironing. There was a lot of truth in what Jethro had said. Maddie had been forgiven and given another chance over and over. It was her turn now.

Dyl was laying on his tummy feeling sorry; for himself, cos his butt hurt and everyone was mad at him, for Jess, cos he'd hurt her bad and he felt mean, for Kyle and Michael who were having to face Gibbs, for his Mom and Dad, cos he'd let them down, even Maddie, who even though she was a pain in the ass didn't deserve this. He looked up when he heard his door creak open to see Sarah, her green eyes so like his Dad's boring into him, freshening the guilt that was lying pretty close to the surface anyway. Sarah had always been there for him no matter what trouble he'd been in. But judging from the hands on her hips and the flashes coming from her eyes, there wasn't gonna be much sympathy coming his way from his young Aunt this time.

"Dylan McGee! How could you do that?" Dyl dropped his head onto his crossed arms and started to cry. That was the final straw. He'd officially managed to piss off everyone. Sarah softened slightly at the sight of her nephew,as the emotions of the day took it's toll, he couldn't hold back the tears any longer, sobs shook his still not very large body. She went and sat on the bed next to him and rubbed his back.

"Your Dad really gave it to you huh?" she asked. Dyl nodded but didn't lift his head.

"It's….not…..only…..that.." he stuttered out between sobs. "I feel…ba…d,…every….one….hates…..me." he said.

"Oh come on Dylan, you know that's not true." Sarah said. "Everyone's angry at you, there's a big difference. What you did was…I don't know even how to describe it. It was appalling." Dyl lifted his head a little.

"Thanks for making me feel better." Dyl said sarcastically.

"Why should I do that?" Sarah asked. Dyl shrugged. She leaned over and kissed the top of his head and whispered into his ear. "Maybe you should try and make Jess feel better and I bet then you'll feel a little better yourself."

"I'm not allowed to move from here." He said sullenly. Sarah scoffed.

"Like that's ever stopped you." She said as she headed for the door. Before she left she turned around…. "Dyl…everyone still loves you, you know that right?" Dyl pushed himself up a little.

"Yeah." He said. I can feel the love, he thought as he tried to push himself off the bed without letting his bottom touch it. Didn't work. He hissed and jumped to his feet and rubbed his bottom.

Jess opened her eyes slowly and tried to think. Was it morning? Then she remembered. All the kids were laughing and Miss Kelly had wrapped her arms around her and Maddie and taked them back behind the curtains of the stage. She'd actually hugged them tight like her Mommy does. Maddie had been really mad. She turned over and then jumped a little as she saw Dyl standing beside her bed lookin at her. She turned back over without speaking to him. A tear rolled down her cheek and she brushed it away gently and sniffed.

"Go away Dyl." She said. "I'm not your friend no more."

"You weren't my friend to begin with." He said, trying to make her smile. Surprisingly... not... it didn't work. "You're my sister Jess." Jess didn't answer. "I'm your big brother." Wow, way to state the obvious he thought. This was going so well.

"Not anymore." Jess said. "Brovvers aren't mean like that Dy-LAN."

"Jess I….I didn't think. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry." He wanted to make this right but everything he thought of to say sounded so….dumb and….not enough. "Jess what can I do?" She shrugged.

"Nuffin." She said.

"I just….it was like a prank…" he tried. "Remember when we went to Gibbs and Kim's wedding and we played the pranks on people? …..We weren't bein mean were we?...We were havin fun…We didn't mean to hurt anyone did we Jess?" Jess shook her head.

"Daddy told us not to do that ANYMORE." She said. "Cos PEOPLE get HURT." He chewed the inside of his cheek while he tried to think of another way to explain. But she was right and there really wasn't a way to explain.

"I know." He said. "If it makes you feel any better Dad busted my ass real good. Without no underpants." Jess bucked up a little.

"It does." She said simply. Sensing a slight reprieve Dyl decided to go for the laugh.

"Yep…..my ass is so red and shiny you could prolly see your face in it." He said. Jess smiled.

"Yep. Prolly have to sleep on my tummy for a LONG time." He saidas he rubbed his bottom for extra effect.

"A week?" Jess asked, her eyes starting to twinkle, just a little.

"Maybe longer even." Dyl said.

"TWO weeks?" Jess asked, she was starting to get into this now. Dyl shrugged happily.

"Maybe a WHOLE month." It was funny how happy he felt. Happy cos he'd made his little sister smile again. Of course she was only smiling at the thought of him being in terrible pain but what the hell, she was smiling and for the moment it was something.

Tim had opened Jess's door when he went in search of Dyl and found him missing from his own room, but now gently closed it. He shouldn't really be in there, but….bridges were being built and that could only help.

After what seemed like another whole day but was probably only an hour or so, Kim opened the door and stuck her head through.

"Time for dinner boys." She said. They both looked at each other and then the floor. She didn't really know what to say to them, anymore than they knew what to say to her. But they were the ones in the wrong here and they knew they had to go first.

"I'm sorry Kim." Michael said.

"Me too Kim…..Really." Kyle said. "We shouldna taken the pictures and we shouldna showed em in assembly."

"No boys. You shouldn't have." She said sternly. At the deflated looks on their faces though she forced herself to add. "People make mistakes. Important thing is to learn from them." Neither of them smiled but they did meet her eyes briefly as they scooted past her and headed for the kitchen table. She let her hand brush each of their heads very lightly as they passed through the door.

"They gonna be allowed to eat DINNER?" Maddie asked meanly as they scampered into their seats as quietly as they could. Kim rolled her eyes.

"Of course they are Maddie." She said.

"Humpff!" she said. "Well then they should only get vegables." Kyle blew out a slow breath. It was gonna be a long night. He was almost looking forward to goin home. Almost. Well not looking forward to exactly. Shit not at all, he may as well make the most of it while he could sit at least a little.

"Maddie…I'm sorry." Kyle said. "Aren't we Michael." Michael nodded.

"We are Maddie. Real sorry." He said. "It was stupid and mean….and…." he couldn't really think what to say next so he just let the sentence wither away. Maddie said nothing.

"The boys apologised Maddie." Kim said.

"I heard them." She answered.

"And do you have anything to say back to the boys?" Kim asked.

"Nope." She said shortly.

"Are you sure?" Kim asked.

"Uhhuh." Maddie said. "Can I have some more milk please?" Kim gave the boys a sympathetic glance as she went to the fridge to get the milk. As soon as her back was turned Maddie wrinkled her nose poked out her tongue. Kyle and Michael looked at each other quickly and then continued to push the food around their plates with their fork.

"Not hungry?" Kim asked as she returned to the table. Michael shook his head.

"Not so much." Kyle said.

"May we be excused please?" Michael asked.

"Yes you may." Kim said. "You might want to pack some of your things for the morning. You know your Mom and Dad are coming back. They both nodded. Maddie smiled.

"You're gonna get another spanking." She said in a sing songy voice. Kim put her finger to her lips to shush her.

"Maddie!" she said.

"Well they are!" she said happily.

"Drink your milk Maddie." Kim said.

"I'm not thirsty anymore." She said. "May I be excused pleased?"

"Finish your dinner first." Kim said in a tired voice.

""Why? You let the...m." She whined. "I'm upset!" Kim rolled her eyes.

"Oh alright. Just this once." Kim said as she put her own dinner on the counter. That could have been handled better, but she had truly had enough drama for one day, she just didn't have another argument in her.

The next morning it was barely past seven in the morning when Tony and Ziva pulled into the Gibbs driveway. Neither could explain why, to themselves or each other, but they had both woken early and knew that they needed to come home.

At the knock on the front door a bleary eyed Gibbs turned to his wife.

"That'll be them." He said. "Must have decided to come early so they can see the boys before school."

"Mmm." Kim said. "Nice homecoming surprise." She padded to the bathroom gathering her robe off the end of the bed as she went. "What are you gonna do?" "What can I do?" Gibbs said. "Gonna tell em. There's no way I could hide it even if I wanted to." He was already on his way out the bedroom door.

"I know." She said sadly. "What a mess."

Gibbs pulled open the door wide. "Hey." He said. "Come on in and I'll make some coffee." No harm in letting them get through the door first before he landed them with the latest news. Funny though. Looking at them, he could have sworn that they were hedging themselves.

By the time they got to the kitchen Kim had already started the coffee. She crossed the room and enveloped Ziva in a hug which she was surprised to have returned warmly. Well, well, she thought. Things on their trip must have turned out well at least. Shame she and Jethro were about to spoil it.

"Couldn't wait to see the kids huh?" Gibbs said. Kim started hurriedly getting mugs out of the cupboard so she didn't have to look. "Look. There's no easy way to say this. There was some trouble while you were gone." Tony's head bobbed up nervously.

"What kind of trouble Boss?" he asked.

"Was it the boys? Are they ok? They are not hurt?" she asked. Gibbs smirked. Tony didn't miss it.

"What'd they do?" he asked.

"Well, it's probably better if I tell you the whole story." Kim couldn't stand it anymore.

"Maddie had a crush on Kyle. She went out of her way to get his attention. When she didn't get any joy there she moved onto Michael." Kim said. She was trying to condense the story as much a she could, to get to the crux.

"Well that is our Maddie." Ziva said smiling. The other three all turned to look at her. Same lack of contractions. Same accent. Sooo didn't sound like Ziva though.

"Yes well, there's more." Gibbs said. "When they went to school, she hid a knife in her lunch box." Tony spat his coffee all over the table and then jumped up to get a cloth.

"A knife?...She didn't STAB anyone?" he asked eyes like saucers.

"Of COURSE not." Gibbs said incredulously. Ziva smiled on, she was finding this family anecdote very amusing. "The girls, Maddie and Jess carved messages into a tree. Maddie wrote, 'Maddie loves Michael Dinozzo' and Jess wrote, 'Jess loves Kyle Dinozzo'." Tony was grinned like a Cheshire cat.

"What can I say….Dinozzo charm." he said proudly.

"Mmmm. Well the Dinozzo charm may have escaped them a little." Gibbs said. Uh oh, Tony thought.

"The boys were embarrassed. All the kids were laughing at them." Kim said.

"So they, with Dyl, hatched a plot of revenge." Gibbs said. Ziva stopped smiling. Suddenly the fun family story was making her feel a little sick.

"What exactly did this 'plot of revenge' entail?" she asked.

"Hold your horses Ziva I'm getting there." Gibbs said. "Fact is the girls got caught by the Sister, who was none too pleased as you can imagine."

"Abby and I came up to see her and she put them on in-school detention." Kim said. "After school, we brought the kids home and the girls each got a spanking."

"I do not see a problem so far." Ziva said. Kim looked at Gibbs to continue.

"That's where the revenge comes into it." He said. Ziva and Tony were all ears. "Kyle and Michael at this house, and Dyl at the McGee's, took footage of the girls getting spanked on their mobile phones. Then they unloaded it onto the…."

"Uploaded." The other three all said at once.

"Uploaded," Gibbs said, irritated at the interruption, " it onto one of the school computers. It was played to the whole school during the assembly." You could hear a pin drop for a second.

"The whole school….saw those little girls getting spanked?" Ziva said incredulously. "Because of Kyle and Michael."

"Yeah." Gibbs said. "And Dylan." She started to rant in Hebrew. No one knew what she was saying but they were all sure of one thing, those boys were lucky they were asleep. Nobody knew quite what to say. Tony was clearly fuming and none too happy that Ziva was getting herself into a state, he put a loose arm around her shoulders and squeezed in an attempt to calm her a little.

"Don't worry." He said quietly. "By the time I'm through with them they won't EVER pull a stunt like this again." Nothing else was said while they all waited for Ziva to gradually wind down. It didn't take long, although she was clearly still fuming.

"Look, why don't we all have some breakfast and calm down." Kim said as she passed Ziva some tea. "Here drink this and take a breath."

"You should know that I've already spanked both of them." Gibbs said. Both Tony and Ziva nodded. They would have expected as much, not that it was gonna save their asses when they got home.

Kyle and Michael were in fact awake and sitting on their beds with their bags packed. They knew their Mom and Dad were home cos they could hear their voices. Quiet voices at first and then a much louder voice that was prattling ten to the dozen in Hebrew.

"Oh shit!" Kyle said. "She knows then," Michael covered his face with his hands. "And she's pissed."

"Ya think Kyle?" Michael said. It wouldn't be much longer now. In fact, it was another fifteen long minutes until they heard the footsteps on the stairs and finally the door creak open. They both jumped up.

"Dad." they both said at once fearfully. Tony said nothing but pointed towards the stairs.

"Go and apologise again to Gibbs and Kim and then get yourselves to the car...Now." he said. As each twin ducked past him, their curly headed mops bounced as they attempted to get by unscathed, he still managed to land a hard whack to each of their backsides. Neither dared to rub out the sting but instead headed for the front door where Kim and Gibbs and their Mom were waiting. The look of total disappointment on their Mom's face was their undoing. Kyle swiped a tear away and Michael started to cry. When Tony cleared his throat they both spoke.

"Sorry Gibbs, sorry Kim." They both said while not taking their eyes off their Mom.

"Car." Tony said and they shuffled quickly out the door with their backpacks.

As they pulled away Kim closed the door and Maddie appeared on the bottom stair.

"Where's Kyle and Michael?" she asked.

"They went home honey. Their Mom and Dad came and got them." Maddie looked disappointed. "Did they get in trouble?"

"I'm sure they will when they get to their own house." Kim said. Maddie pouted.

"No fair!" she said crossing her arms. "I wanted them to get another spanking at MY house."

When the car had turned out of the driveway, Ziva couldn't contain herself any longer. "How could you boys do such a thing?...You were staying in their HOME...Those girls are...LITTLE girls...not that you would that to any BODY. How COULD you?" she repeated, and then turned to face the front again. Well this was going well, Kyle thought. Gonna take some serious sucking up to fix this little mess. His Dad hadn't even really started yet, but he could feel his anger from where he was sitting. This had definitely NOT been one of their better ideas.

Michael was scared. Really scared. He'd never SEEN his Mom and Dad so angry. And that look his Mom had on her face when she saw them, he didn't think he'd EVER forget that look. She was right. How could they have done that to little girls. They were monsters. Well he was anyway.

Neither had to ponder anything for long. Before they knew it they were pulling into their own driveway. Tony finally turned and spoke to them both.

"Go get ready for school. I'm way too angry to deal with you two yet. We'll take care of this afternoon after school."

"G-Gibbs, did already spank us..." Kyle pointed out meekly as he tried to scramble passed his father into the house. He didn't think it could hurt to point out that they had already been punished for what they had done... Dad didn't have to spank them again, he was sure Dyl wasn't getting two spankings,,,

Michael peered up at his brother giving him a look that clearly told him to shut up! Was he insane? Did he not SEE how mad their father was ?

The looked he received back told him clearly that they had nothing at all to lose at this point.

Michael felt like rolling his eyes but didn't dare.

"Dyl isnt gonna get two spankings," Kyle ground out at his brother a little too loudly. "OW!" Kyle yelped as his Dad's hand cracked off his backside.

Kyle looked up at Tony wide eyed both hands going back to cover his tail.

which was still rather sore from Gibbs attention the night before.

That's why, Michael thought. Like I didn't see that coming. He grabbed his brother's arm and dragged him up the stairs and away from their furious Dad. If they weren't careful Kyle was going to get them three spankings, never mind about two.

Tony shook his head incredulously as his sons disappeared up the stairs. That Kyle was gonna be the death of him.

Kyle rubbed at his bottom and looked sadly at Michael who just looked upset with him, as they reached the top of the stairs. "What? I was just trying to get us out of another spanking, it isn't even fair, we were already spanked, aren't we supposta be forgiven now?" Kyle knew what they had done had been bad but they had already been spanked. "Dyl isnt going to get two spankings, it isn't fair."

Michael shrugged.

"I guess if Dyl hadda been stayin with Gibbs he woulda got two spankings too. Anyway, the girls didn't even write his name on the tree. He was just helpin us remember?

"I remember, but he did just the same as we did... in fact Dyl's name wasn't on the tree so he's lucky... shouldn't our embarrassment off set our punishment a little? We should get less not more.." Kyle was grasping at straws. Gibbs had spanked hard, and Dad looked pissed, it didn't bode well for their bottoms.

This time he was safely away from his Dad's glare and Michael did roll his eyes. "Kyle...Dad's pissed. Nothing you say is gonna talk him outta spanking us again. You're just makin him more angry. We'll still get another spanking just a worse one. You should know by now that the adults make all the decisions."

"It's not fair..." Kyle huffed, he bet his dad thought it was all his idea too, just like Gibbs did... even when he wasn't guilty he was assumed guilty. Was he really that bad that they always thought anything naughty had to have been him?

Michael was having similar thoughts only the reverse. He felt terrible. Kyle was obviously REALLY scared if he dared to try and talk his way out of this. He should never have cooked up this stupid idea in the first place. It was his fault they weren't all down stairs having a happy breakfast as a family.

Kyle kicked at the floor, he was probably gonna get a harder spanking too, their dad was fed up with his antics and if he thought it was his idea he was gunna get walloped, he was always harping on him for dragging his brother into things.

Michael gave him a light shove.

"I'm sorry Kyle. I KNOW I got us into this, I'm just trying to stop it from getting any worse. PLEASE!" he begged. "Just get ready for school and try and stay out of Dad's way."

Kyle nodded and headed down to his room, he'd stay out of Dads way as much as he could... he didn't like the look on the man's face or the disappointment he could feel radiating off of him, it made his stomach hurt.

After Michael got dressed, he knocked on Kyle's bedroom door. He couldn't bring himself to head down to breakfast by himself. There was strength in numbers right? Besides hopefully he could stop him from getting himself in any more trouble.

Kyle was dressed impeccably, his shirt was even tucked in, he NEVER tucked his shirt in, it was always a fight in the morning to get him to straighten his tie and tuck in his shirt but this morning he was all neat and well put together.

Michael was impressed. That should help. He had another quick look at himself, made sure he'd fixed his uniform right too. That was a good idea. Why hadn't he thought of that? Oh well. "You ready?" he asked his brother.

"I guess." he said.

"Remember to not wind Dad up anymore." Michael said.

"I'll try...but it's still not fair." Kyle said sullenly.

Kyle walked subduedly down into the kitchen with his brother, he looked around, their father was nowhere in sight.

The table wasn't even set for breakfast and there was nothing cooking on the stove.

"Mom?" Kyle called. Ziva came into the room dressed for work. Her face was white and her hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail. She looked gaunt, which was a direct result of the bout of morning sickness that had just hit her. To the boys though, she just looked pissed. Like every other adult in their life at the moment.

Kyle looked at Michael and then away, Mom always made them breakfast...

Opening up the fridge and then the cupboard she handed them each a juice box and a breakfast bar.

"You can eat in the car." she said as she tried to control her nausea.

Kyle and Michael looked at the food and then each other and then down, unable to even look at their 'breakfast' let alone their Mom.

"She was even madder than their Dad. She was sooo mad that she didn't even make their breakfast. That was one of the things that they'd found such a comfort when they came to live here. Every morning, their Mom stood at the stove making them a yummy breakfast with a smile on her face.

The juice box felt cold, and not because it had just come from the fridge.

Kyle shifted the juice box from hand to hand putting the cereal bar in his pocket... he suddenly wasn't all that hungry.

Michael's eyes widened even further when their Mom suddenly rushed from the room and up the stairs. She couldn't even stand to be in the same room as them. Without even bothering to brush away the tear that ran down his face he opened the fridge and replaced the juice. He didn't even deserve that.

Kyle handed his to Michael when he saw the fridge open... his stomach hurt too much to want to stomach anything right now.

Neither of the twins said anything. There was nothing to say really. They both hoped they hadn't really blown it this time.

Kyle looked at Michael in a desperate sort of way... had they really blown it for good this time?

Michael truly hoped not. Things had been different since they'd been here. His Mom loved him he knew it...or at least she had. His Dad had too...or so he thought.

Kyle could tell that Michael was thinking the same thing he was... his stomach flipped and gurgled.

Just then their Mom appeared again in the doorway. "Car boys." is all she said, a tissue covering her mouth. Neither Kyle or Michael said anything else; they walked to the car sadly and got into the back seat. No one even bothered to call dibbs like they normally would. Mom wouldn't want to sit next to them anyway.

The boys were abnormally quiet the entire ride... they had an entire day with the Sister to look forward too and then they had to face their dad... neither boy felt very good.

Ziva had noticed that the boys were quiet, but it was understandable. They must have known that she and their Dad would be upset with them. Having a spanking hanging over your head all day was probably not ideal, but neither was spanking a child when you were too angry. Tony had had to make a difficult call and he had been right to err on the side of caution.

Both boys remained quiet, their heads bowed as they sat in the back seat, still as statues.

It was all Ziva could do to concentrate on the road with the waves of nausea that kept griping at her tummy and threatening to rise back up. If she had know it was going to come on so suddenly she never would have suggested that Tony get out and clear his head. All she could think of was dropping the boys and getting back home.

Kyle and Michael could feel their mother's tension and it was making them feel even worse.

Ziva didn't want to add to the boy's distress anymore than she had to by having them see her throw up, so as soon as they hit the car park she waved them off from the front seat.

Michael and Kyle shared a look. Why did it just feel like they'd been tossed out of the car... they probably had been, their Mom didn't want anything to do with them right now, if ever again!

Once they were out of sight, Ziva sat with her head back and willed her tummy to settle.

The boys both headed into the school and with much trepidation, right to Sister Mary Clarence's office.

There was no one in the outer office so they took a seat next to Dyl and Jess.

I'm sorry Jess. They both said at once. We shouldna done what we did.

'Sok." she said sadly. "But it was mean."

Michael looked away "I know, Im sorry."

"Real mean." she said. "But Dyl splained."

Both boys looked at Dyl.

He shrugged. "It was a dumb prank but Jess understands pranks. Dontya Jess?"

Jess eyed Dyl warily. "Uhhuh. But it was still wrong...and mean...real mean."

The twins nodded "We know." They both chimed in together.

Dyl gotted spanked with no pants!" Jess said impressively.

The twins blushed in sympathy for their friend.

Ok, Kyle thought, maybe that evens it out a little.

Just then Maddie arrived and flounced into the room with her eyes narrowed. She turned her attention to the twins who were standing very close to each other as they still tended to do for comfort when they were feeling bad.

"Did you get another spanking?" she asked meanly.

"No we didnt!" Kyle snapped at her...

Michael nudged his brother. Kyle had let Maddie get to him and that could only end badly and they already had all the badly they could manage.

Kyle shrank back and looked away.

Michael was right and he knew that, he could also understand why Maddie was acting this way... but she could be so annoying.

And she didn't have to rub it in, they didn't rub it in when she got in trouble... cept maybe the last time but they were in deep for that now.

Luckily for Kyle, before Maddie could start in on him again Sister Mary Clarence's door opened and she ushered them inside. The room they had stood in the day before had completely changed. The Sister's desk had been pushed over into a corner to make room for the five desks that now sat in a neat row. The position of her desk gave her a clear view of each of her new five pupils.

Kyle couldn't help a small sigh, this was going to be awful.

Maddie grabbed Jess hand and moved to the desk she wanted ensuring that Jess's desk was the one next to hers. She was disappointed however to find the Sister standing in the middle of them.

"No Miss Maddie. I have already decided the seating arrangements. This is your desk." she said indicating the desk right in front of her. It didn't take a genius to figure out where any trouble was gonna start in this room. That's why she'd been observing the children in the empty outer office before.

Michael kept his head down and tried to melt into the background.

The children were all seated boy, girl, boy, girl, boy. With Maddie in front of Sister Mary Clarence and the twins on either end. Dyl was in the middle. This would keep the talking to a minimum.

That should work out fine, Sister thought. That's why some teachers had problems. They didn't get that it was all in the planning.

By lunchtime however the Sister wasn't feeling so confident. There had been no talking as she predicted, however things hadn't run quite as smoothly as she thought. Maddie had moaned and whined and gone to the bathroom at least four times, while none of the boys seemed able to sit still in their seats. Probably due to some much deserved correction they'd received at home, but still...And something was really not right with the twins. She expected them to be quieter than usual, but this was more than that. They were quiet and jumpy and just not themselves. Both of them were bright boys but the work they had turned in, and there hadn't been much, had been messy and disjointed. They were not paying attention at all. It was like they were in another world.

Tony was the one to come pick the twins up from school, wanting to take them home and deal with them while Ziva was still at the office, the entire thing had stressed her out enough already and it wasn't good for her, which just made Tony more angry at the twins, Ziva couldn't afford to be aggravated right now and the boys had gone and aggravated them both more then they could ever remember being aggravated before. Tony walked in and went straight to the Sisters office where he was to get the boys. He was a little late and Kim had already gotten Jess Dyl, and Maddie taking the three of them home with her after hearing the Sister's report on their behaviour. McGee had gotten stuck with some tech mumbojumbo and Abby was slaving away in her lab so Kim had offered to just get the three of them and...take them all with her.

Tony brushed the dust from his pants. He had called past home on his way to school and set up a surprise for Ziva to help cheer her up. He'd packed up Michael's room and moved him into Kyle's room. They wouldn't mind once they heard the news he was pretty sure. They were brothers...twins...they spent most of their time together anyway. Ziva was gonna be so surprised...all she had to do was pick the colours and he'd do it anyway she liked.

But for now he had to get back to the matter at hand...He knocked on the Sister's door.

The twins sat at their desks, they had been waiting for a while. Dyl and the girls had left over ten minutes ago, but honestly; they weren't looking forward to going home, so waiting was just fine.

When they heard the knock on the door they were startled, but instead of their Dad coming into the office, the Sister disappeared outside to talk to their Dad.

Michael looked at Kyle. "That's not good is it?"

"How much work did YOU do?" he asked.

"I um..." Michael shrugged "I couldn't think."

"Same." Kyle said.

"You think if we escaped out the window and ran Dad would even come looking for us?" Michael asked Kyle dejectedly.

Kyle shrugged. "Dunno. Prolly not." he agreed, his tone no more positive than his brothers.

When the door opened again, their Dad was standing ominously in the doorway his face as red as it was this morning, his eyes as hard and unforgiving.

"Car." he said as he pointed to the exit.

The boys both jumped back and sunk down in their seats. They wished to disappear, neither of them daring to get up and actually do as they'd been told because that would mean passing by their father and getting within his reach, and that just didn't seem like a good idea at the moment.

"NOW." Tony said sternly, as he gave them each a look that meant business. Both rose uncertainly and tried to give their Dad a wide berth as they snuck through the door. They needn't have worried, pissed or not Tony had no intention of putting on a show for Sister Mary Clarence.

Even if his palm did itch to smack each child's backside... they just didn't know when to quit!

As he got into the car he turned around and stared at each child. He couldn't believe after all the trouble they were in, that they wouldn't have just done their work. Although he realised they were probably nervous. In hindsight it may not have been the best idea he ever had to leave their punishment until the end of the day. Best get it over with as soon as possible. Without saying anything he turned back around and drove home.

As they pulled into the driveway for the second time that day, he turned again to face his very nervous children. Thankfully he had started to feel his anger abate a little. He wasn't about to show them that.

"Right. Each of you go and find a corner in the living room." he said grumpily. "The living room?" Kyle said incredulously.

"Yes Kyle, the living room. Seems neither of you think PRIVACY matters." He said shrugging. "We'll see, shall we?"

Both boys started to shuffle out of the car and up the driveway. Michael felt a cold sweat prickle on his forehead and his tummy turned over. "Oh and boys? Loose the pants." Kyle scoffed. Michael gave him a little shove to shut up. Kyle looked at his brother...Was he serious?

"Come on Dad!" he continued bravely if somewhat stupidly. "You want us in the living room with our UNDERWEAR on display?"

"No of COURSE not." Tony said, straight faced. "Lose the underwear too."

Both Kyle and Michael's mouths dropped open, but surprisingly it was Michael that spoke up.

"NO DAD!" he shouted. "Please Dad! Not that!" Kyle could do nothing but gawk in shock as his usually quiet brother found his voice. "That's just so...so...MEAN!" Tony was startled, it was Kyle that usually had the mouth. It didn't take him long to recover though, there was no way he was gonna let Michael start with an attitude. He leaned in very close as he was aware that they were putting on quite the soap opera for the neighbours.

"I believe you Michael." He said as he landed a hard smack to Michael's butt. "Apparently you and your brother know ALL about mean. I think you better move don't you? Unless you wanna move the show out here for the neighbours." Michael yelped and jumped away when Tony swatted his bottom and he scampered into the house. Neither really thought that Tony would follow through with the threat to spank them outside, but it was one of those threats that just wasn't worth testing. Especially since he just smacked Michael right out there on the driveway in front of the whole world.

Once inside, Michael found a corner but he just couldn't bring himself to bare his bottom, he couldn't do it, he couldn't!

Kyle looked over at his brother as he lowered his own pants. "Mike!" he hissed. Michael shook his head.

"Not gonna." At his brother's incredulous look he winced. "I can't. I just can't Kyle."

Kyle didn't know what to do. His brother must have lost his mind.

Micheal looked away as Kyle bared his own bottom, even that was embarrassing. He hated this, it wasn't fair. They had already gotten spanked, and if the girls hadn't humiliated them in the first place he never would have come up with the entire idea... And Dad was pissed... he was already going to spank so hard and Mike knew it would be worse on the bare and he just couldn't stand there half naked, he was too shy. He hated people looking at him at the best of times. He stuck his chin out and did his best to stop shaking. He was gonna get it bad he knew but there was nothin he could do about that now. He felt his Dad's breath right behind his right ear. He couldn't help the shiver or slight whimper that escaped his mouth, his dad was pissed, he could FEEL it.

"Michael." he said in a deadly quiet voice. "I thought I told you to do something."

"I...I" Micheal whimpered, he was NEVER defiant; it wasn't in his character, but he just COULDNT do it.

"I'm...I...I'm not...gonna." he managed to stutter out between shallow breaths. Kyle squeezed his eyes tight shut. He didn't know whether he was willing his brother to smarten up or whether he was just hiding from the explosion he was pretty sure was about to happen.

Tony could feel steam getting ready to come out of his ears, he COULDNT BELIEVE this kid!

"Michael! Take your pants off right now!" he said sternly. He was astounded at the defiance that had replaced his son's usually mellow and complacent demeanour.

"Please!" Michael nearly cried pushing himself all the way up against the wall to get as much space between him and his father as he could "Not bare!"

"I won't ask you again Michael." Tony said. He couldn't let this kid dictate his own punishment. They had done a terrible thing and it was his job as a parent to right the wrongs wasn't it? Michael sure as hell wasn't going to make it easy though. What the hell was he supposed to do? He allowed his hand to slip into his pocket and grasp the small wooden paddle that Gibbs had passed him that morning...just in case he ever felt he needed it. He didn't think he would ever have cause to use it, especially on Michael. It would break his heart, but he didn't know what else to do...

Michael shook his head "Please dad, please! G-Gibbs d-did already spank us!"

Tony did his best to harden his voice, he was finding this much much worse than any other time he'd had to punish the boys.

"Last chance Mike. Lower your pants." he said.

Mikes hands went to the belt of his pants and fumbled for a few moments, shaking, then they stilled and he whimpered "Dad please!"

"Enough!" Tony said as the last of his patience drained away. He spun Michael around and slapped his hand away. He undid his belt and the button on his pants and yanked both down to his knees and then spun him back around to face the corner.

Michael gasped and tried to yank away from his angry father "No dad please," His face was bright red with shame and humiliation and he tried desperately to cover himself.

Tony honestly didn't see what all the fuss was about. He hadn't even touched the kid yet, and you couldn't even see anything. His backside was well and truly covered by the tail of his school shirt.

Michael twitched, it was so hard not to bend and fix his clothing in a hurry or run off to his room to hide.

Tony was almost gonna spank Michael first and get it over with, but that wouldn't be fair to Kyle who had done as he was told for once. What kind of message would that send him? No...Michael had to have his time in the corner bare as well. He wasn't doing it to be cruel, he was trying to give them a taste of the humiliation that those little girls must have felt, and it was a lesson that they deserved to learn. "Don't move from there Michael." he said as he reached for Kyle's hand.

Kyle jumped as Tony took his hand and he looked back around at him with pleading eyes.

Hardening his heart for the umpteenth time that day Tony tugged his son over to the couch and sat down. He wasted no time tipping him over his knee and settling him into position. Kyle made an "oomph" like noise as he was pulled down and he wriggled nervously.

As he felt his shirt being lifted, followed by a cool rush of air, Kyle had squeezed his eyes shut. If he wasn't using his hands to balance himself, he would have covered his ears. He hated waiting for the first loud crack and the searing pain that followed. It never failed to surprise him. It usually made him jump and yelp, at the least and that was when he was only getting one spanking. THIS was his second, but the fact that he was still kind of pissed at the unfairness of it all was helping him to stay a little stronger than usual. That and the fact that his brother was seriously freakin out about bein half naked and he guessed he was scared as well. He didn't want to freak him out even more with a lot of noise if he could help it. But Kyle wasn't a saint either and he was definitely no hero. Their usually fun loving Dad seemed to be missing at the moment and he'd been replaced by this much scarier version. The more stinging spanks that rained down on his already sore backside the less in control he was. In an involuntary movement, his started to sway his body from side, to try to avoid his Dad's relentless hand.

"Keep still Kyle." His Dad said through gritted teeth as he held on tighter. He really wasn't meaning to NOT be still and he certainly didn't want to make things worse but he couldn't take any more .

"Stop...Dad!...Plea...se." Kyle pleaded as he renewed his attempt at escape. "It...hu...rts...I'm...sor...ry." Tony squeezed his own eyes shut for a brief second to blink out the tears that blurring his vision. He hated doing this. Why they couldn't just be good, he thought as he continued the spanking, despite Kyle's protests. Finally, he took a strengthening breath and finished the spanking with a few hard smacks to each sit spot and then helped his son to stand and straighten his clothes.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see that Michael had gotten himself into a state already. His shoulders shook with quiet desperate sobs and his head drooped dejectedly. His hands were clamped tightly over his ears presumably to block out the sound of his brother's crying. With the thought uppermost in his mind to get this over with as quickly as possible, he towed Kyle back to his corner and took Michael's hand. He would comfort each child after he had finished with Michael's punishment. He couldn't stand to let the child suffer anymore. He felt for the small flat hand made wooden implement that was inside his pocket. It was a damn shame he was going to have to use the paddle. He hoped to never use it, but open defiance was something he wouldn't tolerate. Hopefully, if he made this lesson a memorable one, he wouldn't have to repeat it. Ever.

As he tried to take Michael's hand he pulled away from him, fear clouding his usually bright eyes. His second attempt was every bit as futile, as Michael hunched over, his hands grabbed on tightly to the hem of his shirt as he tried to make it longer while at the same time crouching into the corner in an attempt to get away from the his Dad's grasp. All the anger had gone from Tony now, all that was left was the resolve to get this finished with once and for all.

"Leave me ALONE!" Michael screeched as he glared at his Dad through eyes that were now glazed over in fear. Tony blew out an exasperated breath.

"Come on son." he said firmly. "It's time." And with that he put his arm around his son and half carried half dragged him across the room. It was no easy feat as Michael wasn't even halfway ready to give up the fight.

"NOoooo!" he screamed as he tried to plant his feet more stably onto the floor. He had gone way past the point of any rationality now and was fighting as though he was fighting for his life. "Don't wanna spanking, I won't ...LET you!" he screeched...as he clung desperately to the corner of the sofa in a last ditch effort to save what was left of his dignity. Tony shook his head sadly; he had never felt more of a heel in his whole life. This was definitely NOT one of the highlights of parenting. Finally he managed to undo the grip that Michael had on the sofa and manoeuvre him over his lap. He didn't have the heart to start spanking right away, but instead rubbed soothing circles on his back in an effort to get the distraught boy to calm down a little. Finally, when he felt Michael start to relax he spoke firmly but fairly quietly.

"Mike, I know you know how terrible a thing that it was that you did to those girls and I know you know you deserve this spanking. Michael's tears began again in earnest and the fight seemed to have gone out of him finally. Tony didn't think he had the heart to use the paddle now. He really didn't think he could. But as he lifted his son's shirt the same as he'd done with Kyle, Michael found his second wind, he arched his back and pushed himself up, only to feel his father's firm hand push him down and hold him in place. As the first smack exploded onto his bare butt cheek, Michael lost what was left of his senses and he did something that he would live to regret for some time. He sunk his teeth deeply into his Dad's leg. Tony was on the brink of losing his resolve up until that point, but the searing pain in his leg and what he saw as yet another act of sheer defiance sealed Michael's fate. He tightened his grip on the now stunned young boy, and landed smack after smouldering smack all over every inch of his bottom several times over. Michael couldn't believe he'd been so stupid as to antagonise his Dad even more. He sobbed and pleaded, all to no avail.

"Da...d...I'm...so...rr...y. I'm...Sorry...I didn't...mean...to..." As hard as it was for him, Tony kept spanking hard until he felt he'd given Michael the same as his brother, but instead of stopping there, he paused.

"Michael, if you had done as you were told and you hadn't defied me...or taken a chunk out of my leg, you're spanking would've been over." Both boys were startled. Michael BIT Dad? Kyle thought...he's gonna kill him. It wasn't over? Michael thought.

"But...Da...d...I...'m...sor...ry.. No..oo...n.o...more..." he begged between sobs. Tony shook his head.

"Sorry Mike, but I want you to remember that I won't tolerate defiance...ever." Tony said firmly but not unkindly. With that he brought the paddle out of his pocket. "This is what you have to expect if you ever act that way again."

Michael was stunned into silence. He clung desperately to his Dad's leg, not even realising that he was sinking his nails deep into the denim. He couldn't believe that he was actually going to spank him with a paddle. His ass was already on fire. Luckily for him, Tony recognised it for what it was...fear. He held Michael tight against him and brought the paddle down onto his very pink bottom. It was more symbolic than anything, he wasn't even spanking hard at all, but to Michael who was already tired, sore and distressed, it felt like he was having his bottom thoroughly tanned all over again. The first couple of licks he was too stunned to react much at all, his only response was his to open his mouth wide...but no sound came out. With the third light lick of the paddle, he finally he found his voice and let out a gut wrenching wail.

"Nooooo...Stooopppp! ...st...op...D..d...d...a.d! You're...hu...rt...ing...me!" he cried desperately. After six swats Tony did stop and once again rubbed circles on Michael's back. His head thumped in time with his rapidly beating heart as he listened to Mike's heartbroken sobs. God he hoped he never had to go this far with a punishment again. He looked over at Kyle who had gone out in sympathy for his brother.

His shoulders were shaking and he sobbed sadly, he'd NEVER seen Michael act so out of character, he silently prayed for this day to just end and everything to go back to normal. Could it ever? God he hoped so.

Michael's loud sobs finally began to dwindle down to a slow catching of each breath, although he was still muttering under his breath almost in a whisper.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Over and over. Tony closed his eyes and made quiet shushing sounds to try and calm him but Michael assumed that his Dad didn't want to hear his apology and stopped, the last thing he wanted to do now was irritate him. Thankful that Michael's distress seemed to be waning, Tony breathed a sigh of relief him to stand up and fix his pants.

Both boys were a complete mess from all the crying. Kyle seemed to have cried more through his brother's spanking than he did his own. Michael's face was completely red and blotchy and his long hair was stuck to his face in a sweaty mess. They both stood there stock still waiting for their Dad to beckon them for a hug. The whole thing had been a terrible experience, both physically and emotionally and they desperately needed to feel his comforting and forgiving arms around them.

Tony was concerned that they looked so flushed. He also needed a minute to get himself together before he talked to them. "Hey, why don't you boys go down the hall and get some water and wash your faces." Tony said "And then come back here and we'll talk."

It seemed they were going to have to wait a little longer because their Dad seemed to be in no hurry to forgive them just yet. If ever, Michael thought.

Both boys wandered aimlessly down the hall feeling very sorry for themselves...and each other, both uncertain about where things now stood between there Dad and themselves. A fact that of course neither of them shared with the other, they were after all, twelve year old boys.

Tony flopped onto the couch and put his head in his hands and sighed. He felt as though he'd aged years. He was so lost in his thoughts, and his feelings of inadequacy as a Dad that he didn't hear Ziva slip into the room.

"It was bad?" she asked gently as she sat beside him and combed her fingers through his hair.

"Oh Zi...you have no idea." He said. Her eyes lit on the discarded paddle and she lifted it up.

"You used this?" she asked. She tried to hide her shock from Tony, he was already obviously upset, she didn't want to make him feel even worse.

"Only a couple of taps Zi... I had to, he was so defiant...he fought me all the way. Even BIT me!" he said. Even now he found it hard to believe. Ziva planted a kiss on his cheek and nuzzled into his neck a little in an attempt to comfort him.

"Well, Kyle has always been so stron..." she started. Tony's head spun around.

"That's just it Zi...that wouldn't have surprised me...it was Michael!" Ziva's eyes nearly popped right out of her head.

"Michael?...Michael fought you?... And bit you?" she said in disbelief.

"I know!" was all Tony could think of to say. Before they could discuss it anymore...his phone started to ring.

"Dinozzo." He answered in a clipped tone. He scrubbed his hand over his face.

"Sorry Tony, I realise the timing's probably not great but we have a case." Tim said.

"Great...there's no way I could come in...soonish?" he asked.

"Sorry...the Boss said he needs at least one of you. So it's either you or Ziva." He said apologetically.

Tony looked at his wife's rather peaky face, he really should finish things off properly with the boys, but there was no way he wanted Ziva going back to work, she just got home. And there WAS the fact that Gibbs would kill them both if she went out into the field knowing that she was pregnant and not having said anything.

"Nah...not your fault. I'll just be a little..." Gibbs had snatched Tim's phone from his hand.

"You'll be there NOW!" he said gruffily, and hung up the call. Tony sighed and kissed Ziva as he prepared to leave.

"Gotta go Zi. I'm sorry to leave you with this..." he said as motioned down the hallway.

"Do not worry. We will be fine." She said.

Tony was no sooner out the door than the twins came back into the room to find only their Mom. They looked at each other and then at Ziva.

"Where's Dad?" Kyle asked for both of them. Ziva tucked the paddle discretely behind her.

"He had to work...A case." She said smiling. The boys looked at each other. A likely story, they both thought. If there was a case, why was there Mom here? He hadn't even waited to hug them after. Now they knew the truth...their Dad couldn't forgive them for what they'd done.

TBC


	109. Chapter 109

I'd like to thank everyone for their reviews and alerts on the last chapter and I'm sorry for the extra long delay. I had computer problems and lost the chapter and had to start over. I hope you like this version :)

I'd also like to thank Maudlin Muse for writing this with me...again... the same chapter twice... even though she's very overworked and lacking sleep at the moment. She is invaluable :)

I would also like to give a big Happy Birthday shout out to GibbsFan! This is not your story, I'm working on it though... although I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 109

The both stared at their Mom with disbelief. Disbelief bordering on scepticism really.

"If there was a case, why didn't you have to go? Why didn't we wait at NCIS like usual?" Kyle asked. He worried his bottom lip while he waited for the answer, he hoped it was a good one he really did. Michael was still sullenly quiet.

"Because..." Ziva said while she thought rapidly for the right answer. "Because, Gibbs said he only needed one of us, and your Dad decided it would be better for him to go." Ziva had a bad feeling that the explanation had not come out right, but it was so hard to explain when they had not yet told the boys about the baby. She was right. Kyle heaved a disappointed sigh and Mike went from sullen to belligerent. The fact that she had paused before explaining had told them everything they needed to know. Once again, they had added two and two and come up with six, separately. Same conclusion but different reactions.

"I just bet he did!" Michael said sarcastically, with his big beautiful brown eyes narrowed almost to slits. Kyle's eyes widened in shock at his usually quiet brother's outspoken remark yet again. Was he nuts? It was clear that their 'parents' were already just about fed up with them, didn't seem too smart to be a smart ass to Mom just at the moment. It appeared that he was right. Ziva's hands immediately flew to her hips.

"That is ENOUGH!" she said sternly. "Have you not been in enough trouble today?" Kyle willed Michael to shut up with everything he had...obviously wasn't enough.

"Ya think?" he spat. Ziva honestly did not know what to say or how to handle this new side of her son. Her first instinct was to swat him, but she refrained. Tony had obviously spanked the daylights out of him already and she felt it was enough of the spanking. As she looked at his sad face a mood swing took her thoughts the other way. Her second instinct was to hug him tight and tell him that she was sorry that his Dad had spanked him so hard. She knew that wasn't the right thing to do though. What they all needed was some peace and enough space to calm down. She took a deep breath.

"Michael...STOP. Go up to your room and think about this whole day...and yesterday. Kyle you can do the same." She said, pointing to the stairs. I am going to cook dinner and then when your Dad is home we will eat.

Kyle took himself up the stairs as fast as he could, in his best effort to please his Mom and not make things any worse. He hoped his brother had the sense to do the same. He did, sort of. Although Mike had gone past wanting to please his... Mom. He loved her still but it was useless, everything was ruined and there didn't seem to be much point in pretending any different.

As Michael angrily pushed open his bedroom door he stood stock still. His room was bare. Everything was gone. The few belongings that he'd brought with him and all the precious things that had been provided by what he thought was his new, loving parents...all gone. Is that what SHE had meant for him to think about? She wanted him to stand in this bare room and contemplate what he'd lost? How choosing to torment two little girls and refuse his punishment had left him with this...with this ...with nothing? Man...Irritating tears stung his eyes and made it almost impossible for him to see, to think even. He scrubbed them away with his sleeve and sniffed miserably. No point bein a baby about it, it was too late now. He kicked the wall where his bed used to be. No point bein angry either but he couldn't help it. He didn't even know why he was so angry, he just was. Angry at his Dad? Maybe. Angry at his Mom? Not really. Angry at Kyle? A little, although why this time he didn't know. Angry at Maddie? Yeah a bit. She HAD started all this, but mostly, he was just angry at himself...that he'd actually let himself think that he and Kyle and Mr and Mrs Dinozzo could be a real family.

Upstairs Tony and Tim and Gibbs had just arrived back from the crime scene and Tim volunteered to take the evidence down to Abby.

Kyle pushed his own door open and was just as stunned, his room seemed to have shrunk. Well it was the same size, but his stuff seemed to have doubled which made it look much, much smaller. Then the penny dropped and he realised. This was Michael's stuff. They must be moving him in here. Wow. Mom and Dad really were pissed. They didn't even think they deserved to have their own room anymore. That sucked. Still, he couldn't really blame them he supposed. He knew one thing though. They were on really thin ice and they'd better behave if they wanted to stay here. That could be a problem, with Mike acting strange and all. Kyle turned back around and headed out the door in search of his brother, he must have wondered where all his stuff was.

Abby pottered around the lab while she waited for the others to bring back the evidence for her to process. She couldn't help but wonder if Ziva might pop down with it. She missed her and she was dying to know what she'd decided about the baby. But Abby knew she would have to wait until Ziva was ready, count her blessings. Her own little family was great, she thought as she looked over at her two children that seemed to have morphed into a pair of angels this afternoon.

Jess laid contentedly on her tummy on the futon in Abby's lab with her long blonde hair now out of their braids and tangled around her face in unruly ringlets, while her brother read to her from 'Alice in Wonderland.' Abby smiled. She had had to twist his arm a little, well his conscience anyway. Jess had truly surprised her with how quick she'd been to forgive Dyl. That kind of loyalty and devotion deserved to be rewarded. And it certainly wouldn't kill Dyl to be nice to his sister or to be out of his comfort zone for a little while. Funny though he didn't look like he was being tortured exactly. Abby smiled to herself as Jess giggled at the various voices Dyl used to portray the characters. It was almost perfect...

After a while the elevator dinged and Abby involuntarily held her breath. She let it out sadly as Tim came into view. He put the evidence box down carefully on the table and went to hug his wife.

"Not the person you hoped to see?" he said as he rested his chin on her shoulder.

"I'm always pleased to see you Timmy, you know that." She said in a brighter voice.

"Yes but this time, you were hoping for someone else right?" Tim said softly. Abby shrugged dismally. "She's not here Abs. Tony came by himself."

"REALLY..." Abby said letting the sentence dangle. Her face suddenly split into a wide smile as she realised what that might mean. Tim kissed her happily. He had no idea why the change of mood but he wasn't gonna look a gift horse in the mouth, this pregnancy business was hard going at times. After giving each of the kids a quick kiss, he started to unpack the evidence so he could give Abby a hand and they could take their kids home.

Upstairs, Tony was typing up his report as quickly as he could, eager to get home to his family. He was acutely aware that he'd left things a bit in the air with the twins. He felt bad. Not being able to hug them and tell them they were forgiven had left him feeling like the situation hadn't been properly resolved. He was also a little worried about Ziva. She already had enough on her plate and then this upset with the boys on top of everything else. He tapped the keys annoyingly as he backspaced and corrected yet another mistake.

Gibbs had been watching discretely and didn't miss the worried look or the intermittent irritation that had crossed Tony's face as he tried to work. While he was here physically it was obvious that his mind was back at home with Ziva and the boys. Gibbs got up and headed over to Tony's desk. He didn't even hear the boss approaching and jumped when Gibbs clapped his hand on his shoulder gently.

"This'll keep til the mornin. Go home and sort out whatever you need to Tony. Come in early tomorrow and finish up." He said gruffly. It was obvious that nothing was going to get done here today anyway. Besides, Sister Mary Clarence had explained to Kim about Maddie's less than perfect day and he needed to have a word. The boys had paid their price and he wasn't going to have Maddie holding it over their heads all week.

Tony babbled his thanks and packed up his desk hurriedly before he grabbed his keys and headed for the elevator.

Kyle knocked once and then shoved his way into his brother's room. It wasn't easy. He'd slid down the door and was sitting with his back against the door.

"You're stuff's in MY room." Kyle said awkwardly. "I think we have to SHARE a room now." Michael shrugged. "Don't you care?"

"Would anyone care if I did?" he answered bitterly. Kyle chewed the inside of his cheek. " your fault." He said sadly. Kyle didn't like this side of Michael. It was usually him that was telling Kyle to be good...to not make waves. It made him feel kinda sick.

"Mike..." Kyle started. "Mike, if we're good and we don't complain about having to share..." He flicked his blonde curls out of his eye with a nervous shake of his head.

"Is that what you really think?" Mike asked. He couldn't bring himself to tell his brother what HE really thought.

"Do YOU?" Kyle answered.

"Dunno." Mike said blandly.

"You may as well come to my room then. All your stuff's there." Kyle said. Michael shrugged. "We have to do our homework." Kyle tried.

"Do we?" Mike said without any facial expression. Kyle was feeling panicked and he didn't know what to do or say.

"You know we do Mike." He said desperately. Geez they had to hand it in to the Sister, the last thing they needed to do was make her mad too.

"Mmmm." Was Mike's answer, but he did allow himself to be dragged to his feet by his brother.

"Come on." Kyle said as he towed him out of the room and down the hall.

Ziva tossed the stir fry that she was putting together around in the pan and then checked on her rice. She then started to gather knives and forks to set the table. It was one of the boy's turns she knew, but with all of the mix up, she had no idea which one and she did not want to make any more trouble. But as luck would have it, Tony walked in just as she was putting the plates around the table. He kissed her cheek and took the plates from her and put them on the counter.

"Isn't that one of the boys' chores?" he asked with a half smile. Ziva tried to lean past him to pick up the plates once more.

"It has been a long day and they have already been punished." She said, once again trying to get past her husband who was not angry but was not smiling anymore either. "Tony, the food is ready...it will spoil."

"Then let's call the kids down here and they can set the table and we can eat." He said.

"I would like to have a calm and pleasant family meal, so that we can tell the twins about the baby." She said. Truth was, she had a bad feeling about the way that Michael was acting and she did not want him to react badly if he was pushed. The whole evening would then be ruined.

Upstairs Kyle finished off his homework and looked over at Michael who was lying on his bed and bouncing the ball off the wall.

"Mike!" he hissed. "Will you cut that out? You know we're not allowed to play with balls in the house." Mike didn't seem to even be aware that Kyle had spoken. "I mean it Mike and do your homework."

Mike just stared into space and bounced the ball off the wall a couple more times.

"You're seriously not gonna hand in your homework?" Kyle said incredulously. He was trying to be patient but Mike was being a total pain in the ass and it was starting to really tick him off. If he didn't do his homework it would piss off the Sister and then she'd tell on them and then...more trouble. The last thing they needed. He picked up a pillow and threw it at his brother who dropped the ball. When it rolled Kyle's direction he dove on it and shoved it in the closet and shut the door. "Can just do your homework Mike? Please. It'll only take you minute. You're smart."

"If I was smart Kyle, none of this would have happened." Mike said and turned to face the wall. Kyle sighed. He was about to try and reason with him again when he saw Mike brush a stray tear from his eye with the corner of his sleeve.

"Can't." Mike said. Kyle grabbed his brother's backpack and retrieved the homework. Luckily he had the same sheet as the one he'd just done, and Kyle had had enough experience with forging signatures to be able to copy Mike's handwriting, so he got out a pencil and did the work himself. He just hoped to God they didn't get caught.

"Zi, I see no reason why you should let the boys out of their chores." Tony said. "I know they've been punished, but setting the table has nothing to do with that." Ziva took a slow breath, Tony was being bossy and it was irritating her.

"You did not see their faces after you had left. They were devastated. They have been through enough." She said as she turned back to the stove. Ziva kind of knew that she was overreacting, but she was feeling the protective instinct for her kids washing through her, overpowering her usually rational mind.

"It won't help anything Zi...if you cover for them and make them feel like they are being treated unfairly. I'm sorry that I had to punish them like that, it wasn't exactly fun for me either, but they had it coming and in the same circumstances I would probably do the same thing again." He said. Now I'm gonna call them down and have them do their chores." He said and he kissed the top of her head before heading for the bottom of the stairs where his voice was more likely to carry. So much had happened that he had completely forgotten about moving Michael's stuff out of his room.

When he turned towards the stairs, Ziva poked her tongue out at his back. Damn these hormones, she thought, I am turning into Abby. She almost smiled but then forced herself to focus on the dinner so she did not have to let her mind go there. She did not want to admit to herself how much she would have loved to have her friend to share all this with.

"Kyle! Mike!" Tony called from the bottom of the stairs. Kyle packed the finished homework back into Mike's bag and grabbed hold of his brother's arm.

"Come ON Mike. Dad's home, he's calling." He said, trying not to sound desperate. "PLEASE Mike. We have to do what they say." Mike dragged himself off the bed slowly. He honestly felt like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He'd heard that expression before but never knew what it meant until now. He couldn't believe that his brother still thought there was hope. Still he'd play along for now. For Kyle's sake.

"I'm comin." Mike said as he dragged his feet behind his more eager brother. He knew he had to go downstairs eventually but he certainly wasn't in a rush to face ...HIM... just yet.

"BOYS!" Tony yelled when he didn't get an answer.

"Coming Dad!" Kyle yelled. "Hurry up Mike!" Kyle said. He tugged on Mike's sleeve. He more or less had to pull him to the stairs. As they reached the bottom step they realised that their Dad was smiling. Kyle smiled back shyly; Mike studied his feet like he'd never seen them before.

"Look..." Tony said awkwardly. "After dinner we need to have a talk ok?" Kyle nodded. Mike didn't acknowledge the question but he was listening. Hoping. "But your Mom said dinner's ready, so whose turn is it to set the table?" Mike sighed sadly. He should have known HE wanted something done.

"Mine." He said without looking up.

"Ok then, let's get it done so we can eat hmm? I don't know about you but I'm starving." Mike shrugged and walked towards the kitchen. Ziva helpfully handed him the plates. It was her way of being supportive she thought. Unfortunately, Mike didn't see it that way. "HER too." He thought. He took the plates from his Mom and walked slowly to the table. Each plate made a bang as he plonked them down on the table noisily. Then clang after clang as a knife and fork hit each plate.

"Hey!" Tony said. "Do it properly, Mike." Mike sighed loudly but he did do as he was told, there was no way he was risking that damn paddle Kyle watched nervously, his tummy churned with a combination of hunger and worry for what his brother would do next. Is this what it had been like for Mike, always worrying that he was gonna do something stupid? Tony was concerned about his usually placid son, but he guessed it was understandable. No kid was ever happy about getting spanked. He'd get over it. If he lived that long, the way he was acting. As Michael placed a glass rather heavily, Tony took a step towards him, only to find a rather hot bowl of stir fry thrust into his unsuspecting hands.

"Ouch Zi!...That's hot!" he said.

"Mmmm." She said with a grin. "Food generally gets hot when you simmer it on a stove Tony." Tony knew what she was doing but he let it go. He was ready for some peace himself. "Sit...sit." she said. "We have some news." Both boys looked up as they took their seats at the table. Regardless of everything else that had happened they were growing boys and they were hungry. What ever it was it couldn't be THAT bad could it? Kyle thought, or they wouldn't be telling them over dinner.

Mike was more cynical. A final meal before they were taken back he thought. As Tony filled his plate and set it in front of him he sighed. It smelled and looked delicious, but he couldn't bring himself to pick up his fork. Not until he'd heard the news. Kyle already had some food in his mouth, he also needed to hear the news but not as much as he wanted to eat.

Ziva looked over at Tony and he smiled. That was all the go ahead that Ziva needed. She did pause however to gently prompt Mike to start eating. He picked up his fork but didn't do much more than move the food around his plate. There was no way that he could swallow, he just couldn't. Although his tummy wanted food his throat had other ideas, it was dry and closed up and it was all he could do to breath let alone eat anything.

"Ok..." Ziva said, her eyes sparkling. "We are going to have an addition to our family..." she started. Tony couldn't wipe the grin from his face at the news he felt sure the boys would be elated at. Kyle shoved another mouthful of food in his mouth and hardly tasted it while he waited for the rest...

Please let it be a dog...please let it be a dog...Mike said rapidly over and over in his head. He knew in his heart that it wasn't gonna be a dog but he could wish, couldn't he? Then the last shred of his hope drained away with the final words.

"We are going to have a baby." Kyle's mouth fell open and his eyes went straight to his brother whose fork had clattered onto the edge of his plate noisily. That was it...Now Mike knew why his room had been taken. To make room for the one thing he could never be...a child of their own.

TBC


	110. Chapter 110

Thankyou all for your reviews and alerts, as always, I appreciate each and every one. It's nice to hear nice things from people. So thankyou . I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Thankyou again to Maudlin Muse for her input on this one and all the others she has helped me with in the past. I appreciate it :)

Chapter 110

"Wow. Um...a...baby." Kyle said. "That's..." He was searching for the right words, he couldn't really say what he thought; That's crap news. Now we're really stuffed. He didn't get the chance to finish though because Mike stood up abruptly and knocked his chair over in the process. Oh shit, Kyle thought. I guess we know what Mike thinks about the news anyway.

"Sit down Michael." Ziva said, her voice a little louder than she intended, more from rising panic though than any sort of anger. It was clear that the news had not gone over as well as she had expected, especially with Michael.

"Tell me..." she said as she reached for him, only to feel him pull away.

"Tell you what? I'm not hungry alright? I just want to go to...KYLE's room." The room went silent. Tony had been about to KILL Mike for upsetting this moment for his Mom. Now he KNEW there was gonna be a death in the family...and it wasn't gonna be Mike's.

Ziva frowned. Something was going on here and it was not good.

"Kyle's room?" she said her voice now was dangerously low. She was speaking to Mike, but she was looking directly at Tony.

"I can explain." He said. Oh God he hoped he could explain. How the hell had he forgotten to mention his surprise with the room? "Boys...why don't you go upstairs, your Mom and I need to talk." He didn't miss Kyle looking longingly at his still nearly full plate. "And just this once, you can take your plates with you ok?"

"Not hungry." Mike said. And he wasn't any longer. He just wanted to get out of this room. Tony nodded with a sigh and Kyle snatched up his plate and headed up the stairs after Mike.

"What exactly is he talking about?" Ziva asked. Tony winced.

"One day we'll look back on this and laugh." Tony said guiltily. "I hope."

"Tony. Spit it out!" she said, eager to get to the bottom of what was rapidly turning into another mess.

"Ok... See I was kind of distracted and I got to thinking about where the baby would sleep... I thought I'd surprise you." He said. As he assembled what had happened in his mind, he realised how bad what he'd done was.

"TONY!...What ...did...you...do?" Ziva said. She stood up and was advancing on him now. Tony put his hands up to protect himself.

"I moved Mike's stuff out of his room and into Kyle's. I thought you'd like to pick out the colours and we could paint Mike's room for the baby." Ziva for a split second was speechless. When she did find her voice it wasn't English that she was speaking, but Tony was NOT in the dark about what she thought of his little surprise. Finally she settled on one English word.

"IDIOT!" Tony rubbed his hands over his face.

"Zi...I know. I can see that now. I just didn't think, and I honestly thought they wouldn't mind sharing. They're brothers. Twins even. I would have loved to have a brother when I was younger. I was always alone. I didn't think they'd mind. You have to believe me. I would NEVER willingly hurt those boys. I love them." Ziva's face softened but she still paced.

"This is a mess... Tony, I sent Michael up to his room. He must have sat there in that empty room and wondered what...I cannot imagine what he must have wondered."

"Shit." Tony said.

"Yes." Ziva said sadly.

"What do we do now?" Tony asked.

"Talk to them...I suppose. Although I have NO idea what to say." Ziva said.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Gibbs opened the front door and followed the delicious smell that had wafted from the kitchen, it had even reached as far as the driveway. It tantalised his taste buds and made his stomach growl.

"Daddy!" Maddie yelled and leapt into his arms. "I missed you!"

"I missed you too Maddie." Gibbs said. He kissed the top of her head and gave her a squeeze before putting her back down and heading over to his wife.

"And I missed you too." He said quietly into her neck.

"Likewise." Kim answered with a smile. "How were Tony and Ziva? Everything go ok?"

"Guess so. Didn't really get into it. Ziva looked kind of tired though for someone that just had a few days off." He said.

"Oh?" Kim said. OH! She thought.

"Guess it must have taken the edge off to come back to find the boys had been in trouble." he said.

"I guess." Kim said as she tried to keep the smile that was threatening to escape at bay. Gibbs turned his attention to Maddie.

"So Miss Maddie...what happened today at school?" Maddie started to colour real fast, even going outside the lines and she hated when that happened.

"Nuffin." She answered. Gibbs moved his chair over until it was touching hers and smiled down at her ominously.

"So...you were happy all day then?" he asked. Maddie kept colouring and didn't look at her Daddy but she did weigh her answer carefully.

"It's not a rule to be happy." She said guardedly.

"No. It's not." Gibbs said. Maddie grinned, she'd won. She should've known better than to think she could outsmart her Daddy but as usual stubbornness had clouded her perception. "But doing as you're told is." Maddie frowned and finally looked up from her colouring.

"I DID!" she said indignantly. Uh oh! She thought.

"Oh?" Gibbs said. "So when the Sister gave you a book to read...did you read it...or did you whine about it?" Maddie suddenly found the colouring extremely important again. "Maddie?" Maddie blew out an irritated breath. She hated Sister Mary Clarence, she was a big old mean tattler.

"It was a boring book Daddy...it was about Spot the dog and his stupid ball." she said. Gibbs really had to almost bite a hole in his cheek to keep from laughing. He could just imagine the amount of outdated reading relics that Sister Mary Clarence kept in her office just waiting for the opportunity to be dusted off and read once again.

"That may be Maddie but you have to do as your told whether you feel like it or not." Maddie nodded. Hopefully that was all she'd tattled about.

"Yes Daddy."

"That isn't the only thing you whined about is it?" he asked. Maddie wrinkled her nose. Stupid old Sister.

"She made me sit next to that stinky Kyle. I don't like him no more. He's mean." She said.

"Once again...not your call. And being mean to the twins stops. RIGHT NOW. I won't tell you again. Are you listening?"

"Yes Daddy." Maddie said as her head bobbed up and down enthusiastically.

"Now." Gibbs said. "The Sister said you went to the bathroom no less than four times between Recess and Lunch."

"I needed to go!" Maddie whined, her eyes filling with tears.

"Well if that's the case Maddie, I think we may have to see Ducky. You could be sick." Gibbs turned and winked at Kim. "They have a shot now don't they for little girls that need to pee every half an hour?"

"Yes I believe they do." Kim said. Maddie's eyes grew very wide.

"OK." She said "I didn't need to go EVERY time...IT WAS SOOO BORING IN THERE." She burst into tears and wailed loudly. Gibbs sighed.

"Stop." He said.

"You're mad at me!" she continued to wail.

"Maddie stop." Gibbs said. "I'm not going to spank you this time." Miraculously the tears dried up and Maddie contented herself with sniffing very loudly.

"Ok." She said.

"You didn't let me finish." Gibbs said. Maddie looked up.

"I'm not going to spank you THIS time if you promise me that tomorrow you'll do everything that the Sister asks you, you won't go to the bathroom unless you really need to and you'll be nice to the other kids. All of them. And I don't just mean be nice to Jess and ignore the others. I mean BE...NICE to everyone." Gibbs said. "Because if you don't, you will be getting a spanking. Clear?" Maddie nodded furiously.

"I promise." She said and she meant it. She was a smart little girl and she knew how close she'd come to getting a spanking and she wasn't gonna risk it again.

"Good girl. Now put away your colouring so we can eat." Gibbs said and breathed in the delicious aroma from the dinner that had just been put on the table. "Smells good."

xxxxxxxxx

Back in the Dinozzo kitchen, things were not so cosy.

"Tony the baby does not need a room. Not yet and NOT one that belongs to someone else." Ziva asked.

"I know that now. I keep saying Zi... I thought it'd be nice for YOU. And I didn't think they'd mind. I was wrong. I can see that now." Tony said. Ziva nodded before she took Tony's hand and lead him towards the stairs.

Kyle sat at his desk so that he could finish his dinner. Mike retrieved the ball from the closet and started once again bouncing it off the wall.

"Mike!" Kyle said. "Will you stop that?"

"Why?" Mike asked in a bland voice.

"Cos I wanna hear what their sayin." He answered. Mike kept on bouncing. His voice wasn't angry and he showed no animosity to his brother, but there was a definite edge to his swing. If he didn't stop soon, Kyle was sure he was gonna put a hole in the wall.

"Why?" Mike said.

"I dunno...Might hear something good?" Kyle said. Doubt it, Mike thought.

"You wanna hear them talking about all their stupid plans for THEIR new baby?" Kyle ignored the question and tried to change the subject. He was really scared him self though. He had no idea what it meant for them. Tony and Ziva had taken them in because they had no children of their own. Now that was all about to change.

"Anyway Dad said they'd be up soon. You don't want em to catch ya bouncing the ball on the wall do ya?" Mike's only answer was a shrug, but he did let the ball roll onto the floor after one more bounce.

Both Tony and Ziva held their breath as they knocked on Kyle's door. There was what sounded like the pop of a ball hitting the wall, a clink of a fork as it touched on the edge of a plate and then a slight scuffle.

Mike rolled over and closed his eyes tight.

"Mike?" Kyle whispered desperately. "Mike they're here." Mike's answer this time was a soft snore. Kyle knew that he couldn't possibly have fallen asleep so fast, but there was nothing he could do about it with the mood Mike was in.

Ziva knocked again. Finally the door creaked open a crack and Kyle's tousled head peaked out.

"I think that we need to talk." Ziva said. Kyle looked nervously over at his 'sleeping' brother and then back at the two equally nervous adults in the doorway. He opened the door a little wider. There wasn't much else he could do...it was their house.

Tony's face fell when he saw that Mike was already asleep. Then he saw the flicker of an eyelid, a dead giveaway that he was faking. So he didn't wanna talk. Couldn't really blame him. He'd just have to be a little inventive and hope that he was at least listening. They each sat on one of the twin's beds. Tony gave Ziva's knee a squeeze before he spoke.

"Seems we're all a little upset here." He said. "I guess you're not too happy with the room arrangements or the thought of a new baby in the house."

Kyle shrugged and tried to keep his face happy...well maybe not happy, but not at least not rude or smart assy, although that WAS hard. His normal self would have loved to blurt out what he really thought. 'Ya think? You spank our asses and stand us in the corner and then take off to work without even sayin goodbye. Then you shuffle our rooms up like you're playin cards and then forget to mention it. THEN... you tell us with a great big smile that you're havin a baby. A real one. Wow, great news. Can't imagine why we're not thrilled DAD!' But those thoughts would only make things worse, so he made them stay inside his head. When he realised they were still waiting for an answer, he shrugged again. "I don't mind." He lied.

If Mike's eyes had of been opened he would have rolled them. Yeah like those are the only problems here, Mike thought. He'd ruined things by bein so bad while they were gone and now he'd even taken Kyle's room. He couldn't do anything right...and now the perfect version a real Dinozzo was on its way to take his place. He heard Kyle say he didn't mind but he didn't believe that for a second. He knew every tone of voice his brother used and he'd just told a lie. He WAS mad about his room bein taken and who could blame him. A fresh flood of anger flushed through Mike and he found himself sitting up.

"You're lying!" he spat at his brother angrily. "You DO care about your room bein taken!" Kyle stared at his brother like he'd grown two heads. He didn't know what to say. He kind of did but...not really. It was the not being asked...

"Mike..." he said. He wanted to explain but he didn't know how. Tony and Ziva were dumbstruck by the anger that emanated from their usually placid son. Mike gave Kyle a shove and knocked him back onto the bed.

"Just ADMIT IT!" he yelled. Tony jumped up and grabbed Mike around the waist and lifted him off the ground and away from his brother who had been too stunned to fight back. He was shocked and offended, he didn't know what to make of Mike's anger. He could understand him bein angry, this whole thing sucked. But why was he blaming him? He didn't take his room.

"Hey, hey, enough." Tony said in what he hoped was a calming voice. Mike pulled away from him and climbed back on the bed. "Mike talk to me." Tony could see something was really wrong here but he'd never felt more out of his depth. He looked at Ziva hoping she had an answer. She didn't but she wanted to try so she crossed the room and placed a gentle hand on her son's back.

"Michael?" she tried in a soft voice. He shook her hand off.

"Just leave me alone." He said to the wall. "All of you just leave me."

"He'll be ok." Kyle said in a rush. "He just needs sleep is all." He was standing by the door hoping they would get the hint and leave before things got worse. He just wanted to be alone too. Ziva looked at Tony and they both headed for the door.

"Are you sure you..." she started.

"We're fine." Kyle said, although he wanted nothing more than to throw himself into her arms and sob his heart out.

"Do you think they're ok?" Tony asked. Ziva looked worried.

"I am not sure, but it was clear that our presence was making things worse...I hope after a good night sleep..." She said. Tony nodded.

"If things aren't better tomorrow, I think we're gonna need some help." This time Ziva nodded. She felt like the four of them were trapped on an island without a means of escape. When had it all gone so wrong?

xxxxxxxx

"Do you think Tony and Ziva are OK?" Abby asked into the darkness. Tim pulled her against him tightly and muttered sleepily into her hair.

"I'm sure they're fine Abs." Tim said, as he snuggled further under the covers. Abby turned over and switched on the lamp. Tim winced and hid his face in his pillow.

"But alot's happened and she's not talking to anyone." Abby said, being careful not to divulge the reason why she was worried.

"Abby...the boys did the same thing as Dyl...he's fine and so is Jess... and they have to live with each other. I'm sure it's all been forgotten by now." He said as he carefully climbed over her and switched off the lamp. He settled back onto his own side again, hoping that she was finished. Nope. Once again the room was brought to life the by the gentle glow of the bedside lamp.

"Abby." Tim said not quite so gently this time. "It's late."

"I know, but Tim I'm worried." She said. "Couldn't you just call Tony and ask if everything's ok?"

"No Abs. They'll be asleep and if they're not asleep I doubt they wanna here from us." He said. "Now can we get some sleep... please. Turn off the light." Abby did as he asked but she wasn't happy. "I can hear you pouting Abby, even in the dark."

"Humpfft." Was his only answer.

"Abby." He warned softly into her ear.

"Will you call in the morning?" She asked.

"If I say yes will you go to sleep?" he asked with a yawn.

"Yes I will." She said happily.

"Good, then yes." He said as he pulled her against him comfortably for the last time hopefully that night. He loved the smell of her freshly washed hair, and the soft skin of her delicately perfumed neck on the side of his face as he snuggled closer. His hands crept down slowly to rest on her still flat tummy where their baby nestled peacefully, well maybe...it was Abby's baby too he thought wryly. He couldn't help but to press a small kiss on her one exposed shoulder...ok, he thought, it seemed that sleep was no longer a priority. Abby flicked the light on again.

"Uhhuh." she said with giggle. "Thought you were tired."

"I was." He said as he flipped her over to face him. "But someone...kept turning on the light." He said as he trailed kisses along her neckline. And chatting...Now I'm awake."

"So it would seem." Abby chuckled throatily, as her hands did some roaming of their own. She flicked the light back off with a smirk; she had no intention of turning it back on again for a while. A very long while.

xxxxxxxxx

The next morning, by some miracle, Ziva did not feel too bad. When Kyle came down it was to find his parents at the table. His Mom had actually made breakfast.

"Morning." He said with a smile he was getting used to using. He took his seat quietly and carefully filled his plate. He made sure that he'd left enough for everyone else and he used his best manners as he ate. Tony and Ziva looked at each other. It was a little hopeful right?

"Did you sleep well Kyle?" Ziva asked. He nodded.

"Yes Mam." He said, making sure to empty his mouth first. She was about to question him further when Michael appeared.

"Good morning Michael." She said with a smile as wide as she could make it.

"Morning." He said. "Can I skip breakfast? I'm not hungry." And I don't wanna sit here at the table, he thought.

"No." Tony said. "You didn't eat anything last night, you need to have a little something." Mike looked at the plate of his favourite pancakes and his tummy turned over. WAS he hungry? He felt sick, but he didn't know why. Without making eye contact or arguing he took his place and put a pancake on his plate and without adding syrup, he nibbled on the edge. Tony watched with a mixture of frustration and concern. "You're going to have to do a little better Mike. Take a bite." he said. Mike sighed.

"Don't feel so good." When Tony pushed the plate closer to him, Mike sighed. "You told me to eat and I'm eating." He said sullenly. Kyle's appetite suddenly left him but he was determined to try and help his brother.

"They're good Mike look." He said as he took a large forkful. Mike shrugged and continued to nibble the edge. Tony and Ziva kept staring and he couldn't take it anymore. He picked up his knife and fork and started to chop up pieces and pop them into his mouth. Tony and Ziva relaxed a little and looked away. Finally, he thought. That was what he had to do to get them to lay off. He didn't even know why they cared. Guess child services would be mad at them if they let him starve.

xxxxxxxxx

For three days, life at the Dinozzo's was like living in suspended animation. The boys seemed ok...but something was off. It was as though their personalities had been sort of reversed. Well not totally. Although Mike was acting more like his brother...well the old Kyle, he had none of Kyle's fun traits. He had NO sense of humour, in fact he was downright sullen. Keenly aware that they had not handled all matters well, Tony and Ziva tried not to make waves or mention the baby, it would just take some time to adjust, they mused. Even though the Sister had gone on and on every afternoon about things not being right, the boys needed some time. Time without being hassled about homework or chores. Time to just be kids. To be happy.

Tony had moved Mike's things back into his room the day after he'd found out how upset both the twins were. He had hoped that it would reverse the mistake he'd made in moving it in the first place. On the surface it seemed to have done the trick, he hoped. Tony still hadn't spoken to the boys about the dreadful night that it all went wrong. He didn't seem to be able to find just the right words. The truth was that he was terrified that he would say the wrong thing and make things worse. Neither of the twins seemed to want to talk and at the moment he was hoping that he was doing the right thing by not forcing the issue. He was wracked with guilt as it was, the last thing he wanted to do was to make things worse.

xxxxxxxx

The situation at school had been on a slow simmer however, and things were about to come to the boil. Poor Sister Mary had nearly been tearing her hair out. Everyday she had collared one or the other of the parents to try and make them see the worsening situation for what it was. Years of experience had bred in the Sister a sixth sense for when something was off kilter...and this was definitely off kilter. Something was really wrong here, she could FEEL it. Kyle had been good. So good in fact, that he refused to even play at recess or lunch, he spent his free time reading or watching his brother and trying to keep him out of scrapes. His work was done neatly and there were no mistakes that she could pinpoint. His creative writing however had changed. He'd gone from being extremely imaginative, to the point of being somewhat over the top, to being...well boring. The I's were dotted and the T's were crossed but his work had become lacklustre at best. She was worried about him.

Michael had turned into the school's resident naughty boy. He was sullen and mean. His work was messy, when he actually bothered to complete it at all. It had started out small, little things that seemed insignificant. But they were increasing with alarming regularity, both in substance and frequency. Some days he would stare at a blank page and do nothing at all. One day when she'd told him to put SOMETHING on the paper, he'd scribbled in black all over the page. He had poked his tongue out and tugged on little girl's braids, but this morning he'd done something that could no longer be put down to the Dinozzo adjustment period. She was going to have to insist that he be disciplined. That or she may have to finally consider expulsion. It would break her heart to have to put this bright young boy into the too hard basket. But what could she do? She had given him...well all of them a chance, by taking them on herself after what they had done and he had just about blown that chance, for him at least. This last act of complete disrespect and defiance had been the final straw. She had to consider the other children. As she considered what she needed to say to his parents, the Sister recalled the events from that very afternoon that had led her to these crossroads.

xxxxxxx

It had been almost lunchtime when she asked the children to pass up their work. Most had done as she had asked them but she wasn't surprised when Michael's paper remained on his desk untouched.

"You may go to lunch now children." She had said to the small gang who had done their work. Mike had gotten up to join them. "Not you Michael." He had kicked the chair and sat back down his eyes narrowed and his arms crossed. His seething anger was palpable. The Sister had sighed as she had taken her own seat, offering up a prayer for help with this difficult situation. For exactly the right words and a generous shot of patience.

"Michael." She had said at last. "Would you like to tell me what has made you so very angry?" Michael chewed the inside of his lip until he had actually drawn blood. Don't cry...don't cry, he chanted softly in his head. His eyes burned as the tears that were so close to falling were held back. But he did it. He held them back and kept his hard boy mask in place.

"Nope." He said.

"Are you sure?" she urged.

"Yep." He said sullenly. Leave me alone...leave me alone, he thought desperately. He could feel the waves of anger building and he needed time to be able to stay calm. Sister Mary Clarence was getting desperate. In a last ditch attempt to solve the problem she had moved to sit in the desk next to him.

"I'll tell you what..." she had said. "As you don't seem to want to write the story, how about this? This one time, I'm going to allow you to write what ever you're thinking on that paper." She said tapping the sheet with her pencil. Mike was feeling totally overwhelmed. The fear and anger that had become so much a part of his being was now accompanied by this feeling of being pressured...trapped. He wanted to get away and ... he wanted her to stop talking. But she kept on ...and on...and on. "Whatever your thoughts are, just jot them down, and then maybe we'll see if I can help." Mike took the pencil that she had offered and twirled it around in his fingers while he thought. The Sister finally took herself back to her own desk. About five minutes later she looked up to find that Michael had actually put some words on the paper.

"Have you finished?" She asked eager to see if he had shed some light on the problem. He didn't raise his head but nodded. "Fine then you may go to lunch." He had almost made it to the door when her voice rang out across the room...across the building.

"Freeze!" she had yelled. "What is the meaning of this?" Michael turned to find her holding the offending piece of paper. Suddenly he didn't feel so angry. And he definitely didn't feel brave...what he felt was fear. Cold fear that made his blood rush icily through his veins. Didn't help him come up with a better answer though.

"You told me to write what I was thinking." He said quietly.

xxxxxxxx

Tony and Ziva waited in the outer office and smiled nervously at Kim as she came to collect the other kids. It was only a few painful minutes after that the Sister came out to talk to them.

"I don't know what's happening at home." She said seriously. "But I CANNOT and will NOT tolerate this kind of language or disrespect. Something must be done to right this situation!" Tony and Ziva's eyes widened as she passed the paper to Ziva. Her face suddenly filled with horror and shock as she tried to come to terms with what she had just read...at what HER son had written. Before dropping into the closest chair, she passed the paper to Tony who was waiting anxiously and watched sadly as he sunk down into the seat next to her. Tony couldn't believe what was in front of him on that paper. In large writing Mike had written;

"I WISH THAT THE SISTER WOULD SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

TBC


	111. Chapter 111

AS always I would like to thank everyone for the reviews and alerts. I always love to hear from you. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

I would like to thank Maudlin Muse who wrote this chapter with me despite the fact that she's extremely busy at the moment. I always appreciate her efforts :)

Chapter 111

There was total silence in the Dinozzo car on the trip home. Neither Tony or Ziva were exactly angry. They weren't happy either...obviously. It had gone way past that. Mostly they were worried. Ziva felt sick to her stomach...and out of her depth...way out of her depth.

Tony wasn't feeling much better than Ziva...in some ways he was feeling worse. He knew that he'd made one mistake after another with this, but that had not been his intention. Those boys had become so much a part of him that he could barely remember a time when they weren't a part of the Dinozzo family. But...He had made a promise to the Sister that he would not let this thing with Michael slide.

The sister had been right, no matter what was eating Mike, he had to learn respect, especially for the Sister. She was the Principal, she was a lady and she was a nun. Even though, Sister Mary had admitted to telling him that he was free to write anything, Mike was old enough...he should have worded his thoughts in a more respectful way. What the hell was going through his head at that moment, at any moment lately? ...Still, Tony couldn't put his finger on it, but his gut was screaming at him...and spanking Michael again, although necessary, was going to be the hardest thing he had ever had to do. He COULD use another punishment but after all they'd been through that would probably seem like he wasn't taking this thing seriously. And he'd made a promise...to a nun. Time to be a grown up again.

Kyle glanced over at his brother who was staring out the window. He looked kind of sick...and sad...really sad. Kyle didn't know what to do to help him. He gave his leg a poke, just to let him know he was there, but there was no reaction at all.

Although Mike was focused on the outside world as it flew past his window, he was seeing nothing. Life outside the car, inside the car, everywhere was a bit of a blur. He was in trouble again...He shouldn't have written what he did to the Sister. But she wouldn't shut up. Over and over with the same questions. He just didn't want to hear that voice any more. He wanted ...he didn't even know what he wanted. Yes he did. He wanted to go into a time machine and make everything the way it was when they first came here. A single tear ran down his cheek unchecked as Mike remembered how it was when Tony and Ziva had chosen them...before they knew he was bad.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"Michael was REAL BAD today." Maddie said dramatically as she tossed her backpack on the floor and opened the fridge door. Kim knew she shouldn't really pry or encourage Maddie to gossip, but at the moment it was the only way she could find out even a little of what was going on.

"Oh?" she said trying to sound as matter of fact as she could.

"Uhhuh." Maddie said with wide eyes. "He didn't write nuffin on his paper and he had to stay in at lunch!" Kim could tell from the look on her face there was more.

"Really." She said.

"Uhhuh. And after lunch the Sister was pi...REAL MAD!" she said.

"Because he wouldn't do his work?" Kim asked.

"NO! Because he wrote BAD words!" Maddie said. Kim looked at her daughter closely to try and gauge how far off the mark she was. But Maddie's face was clear and open. She was telling the truth. Or at least the truth as she saw it.

"Oh Maddie, are you sure? What kind of bad words?"

"The WORST one." Maddie said. Maddie then repeated exactly what Michael had written. Kim was so shocked that she almost forgot to reprimand Maddie for repeating such language. It was so out of character for Michael.

Then, it occurred to Kim that it wasn't the sort of thing that the Sister would have shared with the class.

"How do you know all this Maddie?" Kim asked. Maddie suddenly went very quiet. "Maddie?"

"Um...I sawed it." She said.

"You saw it where?" Kim asked.

"On the Sister's desk." Maddie said quietly. THAT she reads! Kim thought.

"That was very naughty Maddie, to read something that was on the Sisters desk. That was private." Kim said.

"I'm sorry." Maddie said.

"Promise me that you won't do that again." Kim said.

"I won't." Maddie said.

"Go start your homework." Kim said. "I'll send your Daddy up to check it when he gets home."

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

When the Dinozzo's pulled up in the driveway, Tony turned to Ziva and nodded. She understood his signal and got out and opened Kyle's door.

"Come." She said gently. I think your Dad and Mike need some time alone. After a last glance at his brother Kyle got out of the car and followed his Mom inside.

Tony weighed his words carefully.

"Why?" he asked finally. Mike's face was totally blank as he watched his Kyle walk into the house behind his Mom. "Mike? I asked you a question...why would you write such a terrible thing?" Mike shrugged. "That's NOT an answer!" Mike jumped.

"Cos...she...she said to write what ever was in my head." Mike said. Tony swiped his hand over his face and forced himself to stay calm.

"And you couldn't have just written 'I wish you would stop asking me questions'?" Tony asked.

"I didn't think of that." Mike said.

"Uhhuh." Tony said with a sad sigh. He was so unhappy about having to punish Mike again, but Mike saw it as yet another sigh of disappointment. Disappointment that the son he got wasn't good enough.

Without saying anything else Tony stepped out of the car and opened Mike's door.

"Upstairs." He said. Mike kept his head down and shuffled into the house with his Dad on his heels.

"I don't want to have to do this again Mike. You know that you can't talk like that and you know you shouldn't have written it down." Tony said. Mike just stood there frozen to the spot. He couldn't think of anything to say. "Let's get this over with." Tony said and he tipped Mike over his knee and lowered his pants. Mike squeezed his eyes shut tightly and held his breath. When the first smack fell he stayed silent. When the second fell even harder he yelped. But when Tony started spanking rhythmically and the fire started to build he could take it no more.

"Nooo Stop!" he yelled in a panic. The sheer volume and tone of his voice made Tony stop at once.

It was too much, after saying nothing for so long; the jumbled thoughts in Mike's head came bursting out. He couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm sorry!" he yelled. "I'm sorry that I didn't think... that I never think... that I'm stupid and rotten and bad and that I'm not the kind of kid that you wanted! I'm NOT brave and I'm not anything but a pest to you and you may as well just take me back now BEFORE your real baby comes..." Mike sobbed.

Tony's head was spinning and his heart was breaking as the words came tumbling from his son's mouth. Is that what he thought? Really? He should have known that everything wasn't ok. They both should. They'd been living with their heads in the sand. Why didn't they listen to the Sister when she'd tried to tell them that something was really wrong?

Mike fought to get up and pull up his pants and Tony let him but held him tight to prevent his escape. Suddenly Ziva and Kyle appeared at the door.

"Is everything ok in here?" Ziva asked. She did not normally interfere but she knew it was not alright and she needed some answers.

"Mike's obviously not been ok. He's been bottling up a lot of stuff and I think he thinks we're going to get rid of him when the baby comes." Tony tried to explain. Kyle burst into tears and his Mom pulled him into a tight hug.

"It will be ok. We will fix this." She whispered to Kyle as she watched her other son twist and fight to get out of her his father's arms.

Ziva hoped and prayed that it was not too late. That she hadn't just lied to her son. Why had they not seen this coming? They were investigators. They should have seen their son's behaviour for what it was. What was she talking about? These were children, not suspects, their children. Her boys and she DID know them; they both had seen what they wanted to see. This never would have happened...before. What was the saying? It took a village or some such thing. They needed their friends. Their family. Ziva had never missed Abby as much as she did at that moment. Why did she have to betray their friendship?

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Jess and Dyl both looked at Sarah with worried expressions as Abby threw yet another plate into the sink. Sarah rolled her eyes. This probably wasn't gonna end well. She glanced at her brother who smiled and tossed her his car keys.

"Be careful and only one scoop each." He said. When Abby was in one of her moods it was kind of a silent agreement that Sarah would take the kids away from the fray. It didn't take long usually for her mood to dissipate or for Tim to dissipate it for her if necessary.

"Alright!" Dyl said. "Ice cream!" Jess ran and threw her arms around her Daddy.

"Thankyou Daddy." She said with a toothless grin.

"You're very welcome honey." Tim said as he returned her hug.

"You're very welcome." Abby mimicked wordlessly. Sarah grabbed Jess's hand.

"Come on kids...what flavour are you gonna have?" she asked as she disappeared out the door.

Tim carefully put his knife and fork together at took it and his plate over to the sink.

"Is the dishwasher broken?" he asked.

"No. I felt like doing it this way." Abby said her face full of challenge. Tim shrugged.

"It wouldn't be because you're trying to tell me something would it? You're obviously pissed about something. Wanna share it with me?" He asked.

"What would one thing have to do with the other McGee?" She asked hands on hips.

"Well...the fact that you're slamming each plate into the sink and then turning to see if I heard it...Just for the record ...I did." He said. "Now how about you act like an adult and just tell me what I've done wrong." Abby narrowed her eyes practically to slits and planted her hands on her hips.

"I AM acting like an adult and if you don't know what's the matter then I'm certainly not gonna tell you." She said.

"Okay." He said as he picked up a dishtowel and started to wipe. Abby swiped all the silverware into the sink with a noisy splash.

"You PROMISED you would call and find out what's going on with Tony and Ziva and the twins." She muttered. Tim sighed. So they were going to go there again.

"I DID call and I told you...Tony said everything was fine." He said.

"But it isn't. I KNOW it isn't. I can feel it." She said with a sob. Tim tried to rub her arm but she yanked it away.

"Abby...I said I would ring and I did. I don't know what else I could have done." Tim said patiently.

"Hummpptff. If you'd wanted to make him talk McGee you would have." Abby said with a stomp of her boot.

"Very mature Abby. Look... what did you want me to do...drag him into interrogation?"

"Maybe..."

"Yeah right Abs."

"I know I'm not being rational Tim but something is wrong...I know it... and I miss everyone. I miss Sundays. Sundays were...fun...

"And stressful." Tim added with a smile. A feeble attempt at lightening the situation he knew but he was clutching at straws.

"And happy."

"And not always perfect Abs."

"It was like any normal family." Tim nodded and did his utmost to not smile. Like a normal Jerry Springer family more likely. He pulled her into a hug.

"To me no matter what happened it was joyous!" Abby said pitifully.

"I know." Tim said.

"I miss my best friend." Abby said sadly. Tim pulled out his phone, speed dialled Ziva and then passed it to Abs.

"Then tell her that." He said. Abby took the phone tentatively and held her breath while she listened to the rings on the other end.

xxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

As Ziva watched Tony's battle with Mike, her phone rang. She didn't hear it at first she was so anxious, and then when she finally did she switched it straight off. They didn't need anymore distractions right now. Nothing was more important than her broken hearted little boys.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"She hung up...she's always gonna hate me Tim."

Tim pulled Abby into his arms and hugged her tight as her loud sobs drowned out the sound of the end signal on the phone.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"Mike...Mike..." Tony said as he tried to get him to listen. "Awww Mike I'm sorry. This is a big misunderstanding." Tony said. "But we can fix it if you let us."

Mike wanted to believe... but it was hard. He wanted to let his Dad hold him but he couldn't let himself believe that what his Dad was saying was true. Was it really a mistake? Finally he gave up the fight and sat ridged while he stared into space.

There was no response still but not knowing what else to do Tony kept on talking.

"You know...Sundays were not always great for me Mike." He said. God he hoped this was a good place to start. Ziva looked up sharply. She wasn't sure where he was going with this. Tony shrugged. He had no idea what to say so he was going with his gut this time.

He looked up to see Kyle relax into his mother's arms as he listened. "When I was younger than you my Mom died." Mike lifted his head ever so slightly but they knew he was listening so Tony carried on. "I lived in an enormous house with my Dad and the people that looked after us."

"Servants?" Kyle said, a snippet of his old self showing through at last. "You had servants?" Ziva relaxed slightly. It was the closest fragment of normal they'd had for a while.

"Yeah, I guess we did...but to me... they were my family." Tony said. "My Dad was there but he wasn't there. Not really. They were the people who looked after me and cared about me."

"Sunday was the day that 'my family' had off. It was a day I spent alone."

"What about your Dad?" Kyle asked. Ziva was listening intently herself to her husband. It was not often that he opened up about his childhood. "Well, my Dad...slept late on Sunday. He liked to go out on Saturday and Sunday was his day to sleep." Tears sprang to Ziva's eyes at the thought of a little boy left alone and lonely. No wonder he understood her so well. Worlds apart and they were not so different after all. She leaned over and squeezed his hand.

"Finally when I got to college I had lots of people around me. I lived in a house with lots of young good looking men like myself and we had fun...lots of fun." Ziva looked at Tony...he got the message...not too much information. "But not so much on Sunday. Sunday was the day that I slept then. So I didn't see a lot of Sunday."

"At least you weren't sad." Kyle said. Tony grinned.

"There was that." He said.

"Anyway, I grew up and came to NCIS and there is where I found my family. The family that meant the most to me. We weren't related by blood but we were more family than any relative I had had up to that point." He gave Kyle a tight hug and the boy relaxed against him. Tony could have cried. "When Uncle Tim's parents went away, Sarah came to live with her brother and Abby so she could stay at school." Tony looked at Ziva who smiled. "She kept us all on her toes."

"Was she bad?" Kyle asked.

"No...not bad. She was...interestingly naughty." he said.

"Did she get spanked?" Kyle asked but Mike was listening.

"A LOT." Tony and Ziva said together.

"But when Tim and Abby decided to adopt Dyl is when the fun really started." Tony said. "And that's when Sundays started to become special. Every Sunday we'd go to Tim and Abby's and it was family. It wasn't perfect...there was arguments and trouble from the kids sometimes and sometimes from the adults but it was fun and something that I looked forward to...we looked forward to, the whole week."

"And that is where you two come into it." Ziva said. "We wanted a family. Our own family. We could have chosen to have a baby, but we wanted to adopt. We CHOSE to adopt and we CHOSE YOU TWO." She said.

"Your Mom's right. We were so over the moon when we found out that we could have the two of you at once." Tony said. "We have never for a second regretted that decision. You boys and your Mom make Sunday everyday for me now."

A sob caught in Mike's throat and tears ran down his cheeks and he turned his face into his Dad and hugged him and finally let him comfort him while he cried. Kyle cried too as his brother let down the wall that he'd been using to keep them all out. Tony held tightly to Mike while he let his own relief wash through him. They might just be able to fix this after all he thought. When everyone had calmed down, he spoke again.

"Any questions?" he asked.

"Are you still angry with me for what I did?" Mike said quietly.

"NO of course not...and it wasn't just you. You were all in trouble. Why would you think we just blamed you?" Tony asked.

"Cos it was my idea." Mike said. "And I got in the most trouble." Tony sighed.

"Mike I never blamed you more but you fought me and you didn't do as you were told." Tony said as gently as he could.

"Cos...I...didn't wanna stand there...you know...with no pants." Mike said his face ablaze with embarrassment.

"I should have listened to your fears more Mike and I'm sorry." Tony said. "For that. I'm not sorry that I spanked you though...you had that coming, but I won't ever make you stand in the corner bare again." Tony said.

"So we're forgiven?" Kyle asked.

"Of course you're forgiven." Tony said. "He was genuinely shocked that they would even imagine that they weren't forgiven. "You were always forgiven. It's my job to make you see where you go wrong, but my love ...our love has nothing to do with you messing up. It's unconditional. You really thought we didn't love you anymore?" Ziva's breath caught in her throat and it took everything she had not to break down and cry. What had they done to these kids? She thought.

"You didn't hug us...after...you went to work." Mike said.

"And you couldn't even look at us without running away all the time." Kyle said to Ziva. "And you changed Mike's room...for the baby. So you could have it closer to you." Oh Wow! I have been such an idiot, Tony thought.

"The going to work thing, I'm so sorry. I should have hugged you and sorted it before I went. I thought you would know that we were good. I made a mistake." Tony said. "The same with the room. I thought that the baby's room would have to be close, so your Mom could nurse it."

"Ewwww gross!" the boys both said together. Ziva smiled.

"I was wrong. The baby will be in our room with us for a while and then we'll all talk about rooms." He said. "Maybe we'll even put on an extension." Ziva frowned. Ok that was dumb, Tony thought but he was so happy his boys were back that he'd give them the world. But it would have to be the world on one income... He got the look.

"And I was not running away from you boys." Ziva said seriously. "I would never...I had morning sickness from the baby. I had to throw up."

"Ahhhh." the boys chorused.

"Anymore questions?" Tony asked

"Can we eat now...I'm starving." Kyle said. Tony grinned.

"Yep. You and Mom can go and order some pizzas while I talk to Mike." Mike's face fell... The thing with Sister Mary... He was gonna end this perfect night with a spanking.

Tony held Mike in his arms and rocked him for a long while after Ziva and Kyle had gone downstairs. His emotions were so mixed up and he was clinging to what he had almost lost. He rubbed soothing circles on his son's back and twisted his long hair around his fingers all the while marvelling at how lucky he was. But unfortunately they still hadn't completely dealt with the problem with Sister Mary.

"So. You know I made the Sister a promise." Tony said. Mike nodded. He couldn't believe that he'd written such a thing. He knew he had to be punished.

"I'm not even gonna ask you why you did what you did...We've covered that." Mike nodded.

"You gonna spank me some more?" he asked.

"Well...I should. But... we've all been through a lot today so I'm gonna give you a choice. I finish the spanking and it's all over tonight or you can be grounded for two weeks." Tony said. Mike thought, but not for long. He really wanted things to be back to normal.

"The spanking." Mike said. He knew it would hurt but more than anything he wanted to wake up tomorrow and start without bein in trouble. Tony nodded in understanding, took his hand and gently laid him across his knees. He raised his hand and brought it down hard once and then stood Mike back up and hugged him tight.

"Now, it's over and you're forgiven." Tony said into his son's unruly hair. "Always remember that families are all about forgiveness no matter what." He said. Mike grinned, he knew he'd gotten a get out of jail free card this time. This had turned out to be the best day ever.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The Dinozzo family all sat at the table happily eating their pizza.

"Can we go to Dyl's house this Sunday?" Kyle asked. Tony looked at Ziva anxiously.

"We'll see. It might be nice to do something just the four of us." She said. It sounded lame even to her as the words left her mouth.

"Well the next week then?" Kyle was relentless. Tony just about choked on his pizza. Ziva did not know what to say but Kyle was waiting for an answer.

"I am not sure Kyle. It is...complicated." She said.

"Aren't families about forgiveness?" Mike asked. Tony looked at Ziva who smiled.

"Mostly they are." She said.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The next morning Abby woke with the sun on her face and in her heart. Everything was going to be ok. She could feel it in her bones. She lifted Tim's arm and tucked herself into his side and rested her head on his bare chest

"Morning Abs." Tim said as he planted a kiss on her tussled hair.

"Mornin Timmy. I'm sorry about last night." She said guiltily.

"Uhhuh." Tim said with a smile and a not too gentle pat on her bottom. "Not a very good example MOMMY." Abby buried her head.

"I was hormonal and sad and missing my friend." She said with a pout.

"And not liking not getting your own way." Tim teased. Abby poked her tongue out.

"You'll keep." Tim said as he tapped her gently on the bottom. "You're not gonna be pregnant for ever...watch out."

"Yeah yeah." Abby said happily as she jumped out of bed. "Promises promises."

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Ziva stood near the hallway a cup of black tea in hand, as she watched Tony bantering happily with their boys. Not even this morning's fresh bout of morning sickness could dampen her spirits today. After a rather lengthy phone conversation and a lot of 'I told you so's' from Sister Mary, she had finally agreed to start today a fresh. She was even planning on sending everyone back to their classes. They'd learned their lesson...and so had she. She wasn't as young as she used to be.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The boys had disappeared into the office for what would be their final day with Sister Mary, although they didn't know that, and Ziva stood leaning against the hood of her car. She needed to wait until her tummy settled before she got back into the car.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Abby had been running a little late after a few usual morning catastrophes, like the dogs eating the Dyl's lunch and Jess spitting toothpaste all over her tie. Nothing major or huge just five minutes here and five minutes there and now they'd be lucky to make the morning bell. Thankfully Sarah had gone with Zac so at least she hadn't been late.

As Abby drove towards the last set of traffic lights before the turn in to the school, she squinted. Was that Ziva? It was...maybe this was her opportunity. Abby's heart leapt in her chest and she lifted her arm to wave and then... simultaneously she heard an ear-splitting crunching sound louder than anything she could remember as the car folded in on itself, and the non-stop blaring of the horn as the world was spun around her in a rapid blur. It was like a ride at the fairground that spun and spun...but there wasn't any laughter. Just gut wrenching fear. Someone was screaming far away and then more screaming... closer...and metal crunching and Jess...her Jess was screaming...and Dyl wasn't. Why was he so quiet...

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"." The anguished wail came from deep within Ziva's soul as she watched in what seemed like slow motion as a car came from nowhere and plowed right into the side of her friends car. It happened so fast. She couldn't warn her.

Ziva dropped her keys and ran desperately towards the smoking twisted wreck that held her Abby and Jess and Dyl... And the baby...

TBC.


	112. Chapter 112

Thankyou all for your reviews and alerts. It really makes writing worth while to find that people are interested in reading what you write. I hope you enjoy this next installment :)

As always, A BIG thankyou to Maudlin Muse. She co wrote this with me and this story line was mostly her idea. I am eternally grateful for her help and nitpickedness. Not sure if that's a word but it probably should be. :)

Chapter 112

Panic and fear gushed through Tony's veins at the totally out of character sound of Ziva sobbing on the other end of the phone. His first thought was for his own family, that something had happened to Ziva, the boys or the baby, but when Abby's name was mentioned his eye's shot straight to Tim typing away studiously, oblivious to the fact that his safe and secure world may be teetering.

This must be bad...Ziva didn't sob...not without good reason...this was bad. He got up from his seat and walked over to the elevator and banged on the button a few times while shhushing Ziva gently in a feeble attempt at comforting her. When the doors finally opened he practically leapt inside. The doors had nearly closed when an arm shot out to keep them open. Relief washed through Tony to see that it was Gibbs who had his finger to his lips as he stepped inside to join him. He'd seen the look of horror pass Tony's face and knew that something must be terribly wrong.

"Ziva honey? You have to calm down so I can understand you." Tony said.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

At the scene about a while ago Ziva had tried to get Abby's door open, she could see she was barely conscious. She did look up though and narrowed her eyes as if she was trying to focus.

"Zi?"

"Yes Abby. It is me.." Ziva said as she undid the lock and opened Abby's door.

"The kids..." Abby said with a wince. Her head was thumping but she was worried for her children...especially Dyl who hadn't uttered a sound. "I'm ok...get the kids."

"I will... I will..." Ziva said... She ran around and tried the sliding door but it wouldn't open. She ran to the back and lifted that door and managed to climb inside and over the back seat. The fearless Mossad agent was nowhere to be seen, it was Auntie Ziva who worked as fast as she could to free her family. It took everything she had to push back tears of relief as she was able to at least remove Jess from her seat and lift her into her arms. Jess clung on for grim death but Dyl seemed to be frozen with fear. His eyes were open but he wasn't talking or crying, he was just sitting there.

"Mommy...I want my Mommy." Jess cried.

"Shhh...shhhhh...I know ...I know...little one." Ziva said as she climbed over to Dyl's seat with Jess still attached. "Dyl?" she said. Nothing. "Dylan..." she undid his seat belt and tugged on his arm. She was taken aback by the blood that was all over his pants. She propped Jess on her other hip while she took a closer look. Finally she found the source of all the bleeding. It was a small cut on the boy's wrist. No wonder he was scared, not only the crash itself but there was so much blood. "Come Dyl. It is over...you are safe. Auntie Ziva is here. Your Mom is ok...but we need to get out of here now. We will get this cut fixed and you will be fine." Dyl jolted as if from a bad dream and finally allowed Ziva to take his hand and lead him to the back of the vehicle. By now other people were there to assist and there were sirens in the distance...

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Kim who had just dropped off Maddie, left the office building quickly to see what all the noise was about. She stood motionless for a second while she took in the havoc that was before her. It suddenly dawned on her that what she was looking at was what used to be Abby's car, in a crumpled heap. Other parents had rushed over and...was that Ziva? Ziva was clutching Jess and had Dylan clamped to her side.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"Please...she is pregnant. Be careful." Ziva said. Maybe she should not be moved. Abby appeared to be unconscious.

"Honey I can smell gas." A man said quietly. He was trying to be discreet for the kids' sake, but Dyl wasn't a baby and he wasn't silly. Finally he started to cry. He wanted his Mom to wake up and bounce out of the car like she normally did. His Mom bounced everywhere. And his hand hurt. It hurt a lot. Ziva buried her head into Jess hair and took big deep breaths. She had to keep herself together for the kids' sake. A gentle hand rested on her shoulder and when she spun around she found Kim with her hands outstretched. Kim was not sure what to do first. She tried to get to Abby but she was surrounded by the people that were busy doing their jobs.

"She's fainted." The paramedic said.

Someone had to call the others, especially Tim but Jess was obviously distressed and she was worried about Ziva in her condition. They'd been through so much lately, she didn't need this stress. Besides, Ziva would be better if she had something to do.

"Let me have her honey...you need to let them know what's happened before the police do." She said gently. Ziva nodded and tried to extract Jess gently from her neck but the child was petrified and not willing to let go. "Jess? It's just me ...come on sweetie." Kim said. Jess allowed herself to be moved into Kim's arms but started crying again.

"I want my Mommy ... Dyl's bleeding...?"

"Shhh. I know. We're gonna take him right over here and let the paramedic take a look at him." She soothed.

Jess covered her ears with her hands and buried her face into Kim's shoulder as more sirens signalled the arrival of the police and fire department.

"I don't like it. It's LOUD!" she wailed.

"I know honey but those people are all here to help." Kim said. Ziva had walked away to make the call. She tried to calm herself but the minute she heard Tony's voice she lost it.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Tony put his phone on speaker.

"Zi please...what's happened? What about Abby?"

"An... accident." She managed to get out at last between sobs.

"Is she ok?" Tony asked. "Gibbs is with me Zi."

"She is still in the car." Ziva said.

"And all the kids?" Gibbs asked seriously. He felt like running out of there himself, but there was Tim. They couldn't talk to him until they knew what to say.

"Jess is fine... Dyl is out but I am not sure... he has a small cut. He will not talk. I think the paramedics are checking him out. Sarah was not in the car. "Wait ...wait." she said.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Gibbs and Tony waited with baited breath while they tried to listen to the muffled voices in the background. Tears pricked Gibbs eyes when he realised it was Jess that was crying. He was relieved that she was able to cry... but it made him sad that she had to experience all this. He just hoped that all would be ok, that he wasn't about to lose more family. This wasn't the time though so Gibbs being Gibbs, he sucked it up and got on with it.

"Ziva?" he asked.

"Where are Jess and Dyl?" Tony asked.

"They are with Kim. She'll meet us at the hospital with Jess." She said. "Dyl appears to be fine but he is going with Abby just to make sure." Her relief was palpable now that Abby was free from the car and she knew Dyl was fine. "I will travel with them in the ambulance."

"Ok Zi. You go...we'll see you there." Tony said. "Be careful."

"I will." She said before ending the call and stepping into the ambulance.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Sister Mary?" Maddie asked. Sister Mary looked at the little face in front of her. She may be strict but she wasn't without feeling and she really didn't want to have to answer the question that she knew was coming. The answer would effect not only Maddie, but Mike and Kyle as well. She had received word of the accident and had been told that someone would collect the others by lunch. None of them needed to hear any of this on the playground and news can travel fast at times. What with Chinese whispers, the story could morph into just about anything.

"Yes Maddie?" she asked.

"Where's Jess and Dyl? They're REALLY late." She asked. The Sister sighed.

"They ARE really late." The Sister said. She knew the answer wasn't ideal but she couldn't just take it upon herself to reveal this kind of news without some kind of say so from the parents. "How would you like to sharpen some pencils for me?" she settled on finally. Maddie looked at Sister Mary's face. Something was wrong. Sharpening pencils was an honour. She hadn't done anything good yet.

"Are they sick?" Maddie persisted.

"I don't think they're sick." Sister said. "Now would you like to sharpen the pencils or will I get Kyle to do it?" Maddie shrugged.

"I'll do it I guess." She said, but she wasn't happy. She wanted Jess there. She didn't wanna be stuck there all day with just the twins.

Mike and Kyle looked at each other. They had seen adults dancing around the truth their whole lives and they weren't fooled either.

"What do you suppose has happened?" Kyle asked. Mike shrugged but his face was white.

"I hope Mom and Dad are ok." he answered.

"I don't think it has anything to do with them...it's Dyl and Jess that aren't here." Kyle added. Mike nodded but he still felt unsure. Something was wrong...he could feel it. Both boys went very quiet as they tried to concentrate on the books that Sister Mary had passed them earlier.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Tim looked up from his desk and then stood. He knew something was wrong immediately by the looks on Gibbs and Tony's faces. They'd been in that elevator for ages.

"What's happened?" he asked quietly.

"Sit down Tim." Gibbs said calmly. Tim sat but on the edge, he had no intention of staying there.

"Please ...someone tell me what's happened." He said. His blood had run cold and his heart felt like it was beating outside of his chest.

"Abby's had an accident." Gibbs said. "She was outside the school, so they were able to get help right away." Tim was already out of his seat and on the way to the elevator as he continued to fire questions.

"Is she ok?...The kids...were the kids in the car? ...the baby...what about the baby?" he asked.

"Yes the kids were in the car but they seem to be fine. Dyl is going in the ambulance to the hospital with Abby, but it is just a precaution."

"Jess? Who has Jess?" Tim asked desperately.

"Kim has her." She's on her way to the hospital now. "I told her we'd meet her there." Tim nodded...he was doing his best to hold it together for his family but...

"Sarah...?" he asked

"Not in the car." Gibbs said.

"She must have gone with Zac... She needs to be with us." Tim said. Gibbs patted him gently on the shoulder.

"Yeah you're right." he said. "Tony... ring her school and tell them to get Zac to drive her there. It's an emergency, they won't mind."

"On it Boss." Tony said, relieved to be actually doing something useful. As they all stepped into the elevator Gibbs flipped open his own phone and called Ducky. Once he'd explained what had happened and asked him to meet them at the hospital, he asked him to get Jimmy and Amber to pick the twins and Maddie up from school and take them home. Tony's head shot up. He didn't want any of them to hear this second hand. It had to be from family.

"No...they need to be with us...they need to feel safe. Please. Tell him to bring them to the hospital." What he didn't say was that he needed them as well. He needed to see his own family safe and sound and right in front of him...just for a little while. "They can wait with the rest of us." Gibbs nodded.

They watched Tim helplessly as he nervously banged at the floor buttons constantly as if it would make the elevator go faster. Neither of them wanted to be in his shoes.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

As the Ambulance pulled away, Ziva took Dyl's hand and smiled. She was perched on the edge of his stretcher.

"Is my Mom gonna be ok?" he asked. Ziva hesitated for a split second as she looked at Abby's pale face. It was always pale but now it was devoid of any colour at all. How could she have let things get this bad...why had she waited. She could not have changed anything but ...she should not have waited.

"Dyl...I'm fine." Abby croaked. "Are you ok hon?". She whacked Ziva weakly on the leg. "Your nephew was asking you a question." She said with a throaty chuckle. Ziva's eyes filled with tears.

"Uhhuh. My hand still hurts a little, but not as much since they wrapped it up." Dyl said. "Is the baby ok too?" he asked.

"Mmhmm." Abby said. She really hoped so but she needed to get checked out at the hospital. She needed to see and hear her baby's heart beat.

"I know. I am sorry." Ziva said. She turned to Dyl.. "See sweetie? She is fine."

"I'm sorry too Ziva...really." Abby said. Ziva squeezed her hand.

"Don't." she said. Guilt and hormones were making it impossible for her to talk... to say the things she wanted to. But this wasn't the time now in any case.

"Ziva...you said 'don't'...was that a contraction?" Abby asked with a small chuckle.

"DON'T tell anyone." She said pointedly with a smile. "My accent is part of my charm." She was dying to ask her friend how she was really feeling but joking around and lightening the situation was what was best for Dyl's sake. His face had even regained some colour finally.

"Ziva?" he asked.

"Yes Dyl?" she answered.

"If you and my Mom are friends again, does that mean you'll all start coming again on Sundays?" he asked. Once again Ziva's eyes filled.

"Nothing would make me more happy.."

At last the ambulance pulled into its bay and the staff came rushing out to greet them.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Jimmy and Amber waited patiently while the secretary informed the Sister of their presence. The Sister breathed a sigh of relief. There wasn't too many more things she could say to fob off the kids. She was also eager for some news. So with that in mind she slipped out to meet Jimmy herself.

"Any news?" she asked in a hushed tone.

"No...I'm sorry Sister." He said. "All we know is that we were to pick up the kids and take them to the hospital." The Sister nodded grimly and gave Amber a sad smile.

Poor Amber's eyes were rimmed with red circles and she held her rather large bump protectively as she fidgeted fretfully. She didn't want to be here talking to a Nun, no matter how well meaning she was. She wanted to get the kids and go to the hospital and see for herself that things were ok.

"Please Jimmy." she said. "I want to go."  
"Of course...of course...I'm sorry to have held you up." Sister Mary said.

"It's ok Sister really. I just ..." Amber tried to explain but found the words got caught in her throat.

The Sister patted her arm and opened up the door and Jimmy and Amber went inside.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Ziva followed as Abby and Dyl's stretchers were pushed through to emergency. Dyl winced as he was pushed under a large bright light. A Doctor introduced himself and started the examination. Abby watched nervously from her bed as a nurse and an obstetrician tried to conduct their own examination on her. Ziva paced between the two beds while she waited for the Doctors' findings. She knew how worried she would have been in Abby's shoes. Two of her children were at risk here. The child in the other bed that she had grown to love and the one she was growing inside her, that she loved already.

Xoxoxoxoxoxox

"Jimmy! Amber!" Maddie squealed before she launched herself at Amber. "WOW! You got really fat!" Amber smiled. Thank goodness Maddie would always be Maddie.

"That's the baby silly." She said.

"You been crying." Maddie said. "What's happened? Do you know why Jess and Dyl didn't come to school?"

Jimmy took Maddie's hand and motioned for the boys to join them on the Sisters leather sofa.

"Ok... Kids, there's been an accident." He said seriously. The kids didn't speak at all they were too busy watching his face for the first sign of anything that wasn't the truth.

"Abby and Dyl have gone to the hospital in an ambulance to get checked over." He started to explain.

"Where's Jess?" Maddie wailed noisily. "I wanna see Jess."

"Maddie, Jess is with your Mom. She's taking good care of her at the hospital." Amber said.

"I wanna be with Jess." Maddie said. Her cries were even more high pitched than ever. The twins looked at each other and rolled their eyes. They were worried about their friends and Abby too, but they couldn't even get a word in with Maddie carrying on.

"Just shut up Maddie and let Jimmy talk." Kyle said in exasperation.

"Ok." Amber said. "That wasn't really the best way you could have put that Kyle..." she started. Maddie looked smug. "But he was right Maddie. You need to be quiet so we can all go to the hospital."

"I wanna go now!" Maddie said with a pout. Jimmy got right down in front of her. His nerves were frazzled, he wanted to just go as well but he couldn't take her there without making sure she understood.

"Stop!" he said in a stern voice. Maddie opened her mouth but thought better of it. "I will take you to see Jess as soon as you promise me that you won't carry on like this. It's important. It's a hospital and people are sick and worried and if you're naughty we will have to take you home."

"I promise." She said with a sniff.

"Good girl." He said. He stood up and took her hand and they all piled out and hurried towards the car.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

As soon as they arrived at the hospital, a very anxious Tim was ushered through to his wife and son. Dyl was just sitting up in the bed. He had returned to his old self and was watching while the Doctor stitched up a small cut on his arm.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"Jess!" Maddie squealed as she caught sight of her best friend in the hospital waiting room. Jess smiled for the first time since the accident had happened as Maddie sat down in the seat next to her and took her hand. And that's where they stayed. Hand in hand while Jess regaled Maddie with all the gory details. Although Maddie was a little envious that her friend had been caught up in such excitement, she was much more relieved that Jess was alright, so she listened with wide eyes and no complaints.

Jimmy and Amber went straight up to Gibbs and Ducky who were chatting quietly.

"Any news?" Amber asked worriedly.

"Not yet, my dear." Ducky said. "We should hear something soon."

Kim was standing with Tony who now had an arm around each of his boys.

"Where's Mom?" Mike asked.

"She's in there with Abby and Dyl." He answered. "She came to the hospital with them in the ambulance. But Uncle Tim just went in there, so she may be out here soon."

"Is Dyl gonna be ok?" Kyle asked.

"We'll hear something soon son. I'm sure. How about you go get some snacks from the machine." Tony said as he fished some change out of his pocket. Kyle and Michael both shook their heads.

"Nah. Kyle said. "Not hungry."

"Me either." Mike said. They both went and sat next to the girls.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Tim breathed a sigh of relief. The sight of Abby and Ziva sharing a joke and Dyl talking ten to the dozen to the doctor, made Tim's heart soar.

"Oh thank God!" he said as he kissed everyone in the room except for the doctor. He damn near shook his hand off.

"Dyl just had a tiny cut on his wrist. It was nothing, but a little deep so we put a stitch in it to be sure." He said. "Abby seems to be fine but the Obstetrician has gone to chase up a sonogram just to make sure. All in all a very lucky day for your family I would say."

"And Mom and Aunt Ziva are friends again and now everything can go back to normal." Dyl burst out happily. Ziva blinked away the tears that were threatening to fall.

"That's great." the Doctor said. He didn't have a clue about any of that but he did think it would be best to get Dyl out of there before Abby had her sonogram. "You know what? I bet Aunt Ziva would like to take you outside to see all your thousands of visitors that are waiting. You have the all clear. We don't need to keep you any longer." Dyl grinned.

"Is that ok Dad?" he asked. Tim nodded.

"It's better than ok." He said happily as he watched his son jump off the bed and take Ziva's hand.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Any news?" Sarah asked as she and Zac stepped into the waiting room.

"Not yet hon." Kim said. Sarah sighed.

"What happened?" she asked. Kim pulled her off to the side a little.

"Drunk driver. He went straight through a red light and plowed into your Mo...I mean Abby's car." Kim said.

"Oh God!" Sarah said. "Is everyone alright? The baby?"

"We're still waiting hon." Kim said. "Shouldn't be much longer. Sarah looked around at all the faces.

"Ziva?" she said sadly.

"She's in there with Abby and Dyl." Sarah smiled a little.

"That'll help." She said. "Abby has missed her so much."

"I know...there's nothing like a tragedy to bring everyone together." Kim said. Sarah nodded and then went and picked Jess up and put her back down on her lap. Jess leaned back against her gratefully but didn't let go of Maddie's hand for a second.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

All their heads jolted up when Ziva suddenly appeared in the doorway.

"Brought someone to see you." She said with a smile. Everyone jumped to their feet as Dyl stepped shyly into the room. He'd never had so many faces peering at him all at once. A loud communal cry of

"DYL!" echoed throughout the room as his friends and family enveloped him in warm hugs. While he answered questions and told his version of what had happened, Gibbs silently took notes for his colleagues at Metro. He would personally see to it that the idiot that had put his family through this would not come out of it unscathed. He hoped they'd throw away the key.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Abby clung tightly to Tim's hand as the technician smoothed the cool gel all over her tummy. They BOTH couldn't take their eyes off the screen, even before any image was apparent. But then they heard it...before their baby had even flashed up on the screen. The steady rapid beating of their baby's heart. Even after all the rock concerts Abby had been to in her life, there was never such a magical musical beat as the one they listened to that day. And then there it was on the screen. The little peanut like being with a light that flashed away, indicating it's little heart beat.

"She...he's... ok then?" Tim asked tentatively. He didn't know whether to refer to it as a girl or boy and he didn't really care. He now understood what people meant by the statement 'so long as it's healthy'. Nothing else mattered.

"Everything appears to be just fine." The Doctor said at last. They both finally breathed a sigh of relief. Abby made to get out of the bed but the Doctor stopped her. "Not so fast."

"But you just said everything was fine." Abby said.

"And it is. But I'd like you to stay here overnight, just to be sure." Abby sighed and this time it wasn't with relief.

"Please." She said. "My whole family is out there. It's the first time for a long time and I want...no I need to be with them." she said.

"Sorry this is important." The Doctor said. "But I tell you what, so long as they don't stay more than fifteen minutes, your family can come in two at a time."

"Nooooo." Abby said. "I want them all together!"

"Abby...they have policies..." Tim tried to explain.

"Tim...if my family can't come in here then I'm going out there." She said stubbornly. Tim looked at the doctor pleadingly. This really wasn't the time to be stern and he knew that this would be better medicine than anything.

"Ok. I'll keep watch for five minutes and then you have to rest... deal?" he asked.

"Deal." Abby said happily.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

You could have heard a pin drop when Tim stuck his head into the waiting room a few minutes later.

"She's fine... and the baby's fine." Tim said with a smile plastered all over his face. "She wants to see you all."

"Is that allowed Timothy?" Ducky said. "It certainly isn't normal hospital procedure."

"It is for Abby." He chuckled. "She insisted." Ducky smiled.

"She does have a way with words doesn't she." He said.

"Uhhuh." Tim said. "Sure does." At this point he would give her anything...he was so grateful that she was still with him. He couldn't imagine facing life without her.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Abby beamed as one by one her family filed into the small hospital room, their faces all awash with happiness and relief. The boys all squished onto the other bed making sure not to hurt Dyl's arm and switched the television on. Jess and Maddie sat one either side of Abby on her bed while the other adults all crowded around. Ziva though seemed to be hovering at the back.

"Are you ok Zi?" Abby asked.. She was worried that now everything was all over that Ziva would retreat from her again. She couldn't stand it if she didn't want to be friends again. All eyes turned to Ziva whose usually tanned ace had gone white as a sheet. She didn't answer and was clinging on to the curtain rail...but in the time it took for them to register that she was ill, she had lost her grip.

Ziva had felt hot, really hot and yet her skin was like ice. The bright room felt like it was fading into darkness like someone had pulled down the shades, and her breathing had become shallow like she couldn't get enough air ...and then nothing.

Tony's eyes widened in fear and he bolted across the room just in time to catch her before she fell.

Gibbs ran for a help and Ducky stepped in to help.

"Pop her on the bed Tony, so we can take a look." He said.

"Boys scoot." Tony said. The boys practically leapt from the bed when they realised that their mom was sick. So did Dyl. Tony lifted Ziva onto the recently occupied space and Ducky stepped felt her pulse and noted the cold clamminess on her skin.

"Zi hon?" Tony said desperately. He had been worried that it would all be too much for her.

"She has fainted Tony. Perhaps with all the fuss she hasn't had anything to eat today." Ducky said. Kim, Abby and Amber all exchanged nervous glances and then their eyes turned to Tony who was too busy looking at his wife.

"Will someone get that Doctor back in here!" Tony yelled.

"Gibbs will get someone Tony." Ducky said. Tony was in a panic and didn't know how much to say.

"Not just anyone Ducky..." he whispered. "That Doctor that Abby had...the baby Doctor."

"Oh...OH." Ducky said with sudden understanding. He ducked out to get some APPROPRIATE help.

Ziva opened her eyes blearily.

"What happened?" she asked.

"You fainted." Tony said.

The Doctor bustled in and smiled at Ziva. "So... I believe you fainted?" Ziva nodded.

Tim was confused. This was the Obstetrician. Why would she be checking out Ziva? Must have been the closest one around he mused. Abby and the other girls knew but kept quiet and waited for the Doctor to make sure everything was alright. The Doctor yanked the curtain until it was completely surrounding Ziva's bed. The three of them chatted in hushed tones. Tim and Jimmy and Gibbs were left scratching their heads while the girls did their best to look confused.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

After a brief examination it was determined that Ziva was dehydrated and her blood pressure was a little low, but other than that she was fine.

"Everything appears to be ok and the heart beat is strong but I would like to do a sonogram to check on the baby." She said in a very low tone to protect their privacy.

"Of course." Ziva said.

"Yeah." Tony said in agreement. "Fine."

He didn't say anything else at first but his eyes spoke volumes and Ziva understood. They hadn't planned for it to come out like this but it appeared that this was to be a day of revelation. He whispered. "We have to say something Zi." She nodded.

"I know."

AS the Doctor stepped outside the curtain and grabbed the sonogram machine, three mouths dropped open.

"What the hell?..." Gibbs said.

"Um..." Tim said.

"OH!" Jimmy said.

Tony pulled the curtain all the way back to reveal a sea of stunned faces.

"Ok. I think there's a little something we need to tell you." Tony said. Everyone had their eyes on them anyway but now they were really listening...you get a sense of when news is about to be big...well some of them anyway...the girls already knew. Tony had waited so long for this moment. Finally he could revel in the joy he'd been secretly feeling for a while.

"I am also going to have a baby." Ziva said with a wide grin that matched her happy husband's.

"Well my dears...that IS good news." Ducky said with a wide grin. Kim, Amber and Abby were all smiling while Tim and Jimmy were left scratching their heads...after congratulating the happy couple of course.

"Huh?" Gibbs said in confusion. The nurse that had followed him in ducked back out to fetch the Obstetrician before she left the floor.

A loud wail brought them all back to reality.

"It's NOT FAIR!" Maddie cried. "I'm the ONLY one! The ONLY ONE! That's NOT getting a baby!" She stomped her foot loudly and ran outside the room and slammed the door behind her. A still befuddled Gibbs was right behind her. He did stop to stick his head back in though with a large grin.

"Congratulations both of you." He said. "Gonna need a bigger table Tim ...and some highchairs."

"First baby?" the Doctor asked as she squeezed a generous amount of gel onto Ziva's tummy.

"Well...first baby but not first child. We have twins." Tony said the smile still not fading.

"That's us." Kyle and Michael both said proudly.

"Ok great! Well let's have a look at the new addition shall we?" the Doctor said with a smile.

"Do we have to leave?" Kim asked hopefully.

"I don't know...do you have somewhere you have to be?" the Doctor joked. "Only kidding. I'm not expecting any problems so if the parents have no objections...you can all meet their new addition."

"I don't mind...do you Zi?" Tony asked.

"No I do not mind." She answered.

A few minutes later found the whole family including Gibbs and a sniffing Maddie all crowded around the small machine. As with Abby's, the first sound they heard was the rattatatat of the baby's heart beat.

"Wow." Tony said with tears in his eyes. "That's some heart beat. It's really fast. Must be gonna be an athlete like he's Dad."

"Yes it sure is." The Doctor said. Then up popped the image on the screen.

"It's so beautiful." Ziva said. Everyone oohed and aaahed at the precious tiny creature before them. Then Abby and Tim looked at each other.

"Um...there's two little lights." Abby said. Ziva looked up at the Doctor.

"Am I seein the same thing? Cos it looks like a lima bean to me." Kyle said. Michael shook his head. He had to agree with his brother, but he could sense that this wasn't the time. Tony cuffed Kyle lightly round the head.

"Don't tease your brother or sister." He said.

"Actually , ... Abby's right. There are two lights. That means...there's two heartbeats... there's two of them."

"TWINS?" Everyone asked at once. Suddenly it was Tony's face that was white. There was gonna be TWO of them. He gripped the edge of the bed.

"Don't you even think about fainting." Ziva said as she pinched the flesh on Tony's arm making him yelp.

After giving himself a mental and physical shake, Tony managed to stop himself from fainting, but he did sit on the edge of the bed. Maddie narrowed her eyes but didn't dare say anything. TWO babies. They get TWO babies. One each and I can't even get one, she thought...so not fair.

Tony looked at his ready made family and the new additions on the screen and he smiled.

"It's gonna be mayhem." He said happily. "I can't wait." And he meant it.

"Well Ziva...I think you have booked yourself a room for the night in here with your friend. You also need to have a rest." The Doctor said and then she looked over at Abby. "And you could both do with some fluids."

"We should all go and let you two get some rest." Tim said. "I think it'll be good for you and Ziva to spend some time." The penny had dropped finally. He didn't know the whole story but there were fences to mend here and he couldn't think of a better way for them to do it than to be alone together for a while. "Hey Tony! How about some pizza and a game of basketball at my house." He said.

"Will you be ok Zi?" Tony asked.

"You go...let me spend some time with my friend." Abby grinned. She had never heard more welcome words in her life.

TBC


	113. Chapter 113

Thankyou all for reviews and alerts. We really appreciate them all. I hope you enjoy this chapter...it's all in fun. I thought after all that angst we needed it :)

Thankyou as always to Maudlin Muse who wrote this with me :)

Chapter 113

The nurse had set up the fluid drips on both Abby and Ziva and then left them in peace to rest.

Ziva had spent the last hour filling Abby in on all that had gone wrong with the boys...the mistakes, misunderstandings and finally the resolutions.

"Oh Wow Zi." Abby said. "Those poor little boys." Her heart truly went out to them. "And you and Tony. Thank God you've fixed it all now."

"Yes. I did not think it could be resolved easily, but they seem to be feeling better about everything. Children are so forgiving." Ziva said. Then she looked at her friend. "Perhaps Abby I could have been more forgiving." Abby shook her head.

"No Zi. I was wrong. I know I was wrong...I just kind of panicked." She said. She was careful to not get into the whole abortion thing again. "I just thought you weren't thinking straight."

"If I was not...it was still my right to come to that decision on my own. Even if you don't agree with what someone else thinks, you cannot MAKE them think the same as you." Ziva said.

"I know." Abby said.

"Good...Now let's forget it." Ziva said with a big smile.

"Yeah. Let's talk about how big Amber has gotten!" Abby said.

"And I am having twins!" Ziva said. "Does this mean I will be twice that size?" Abby shrugged.

"I have no idea. I haven't been pregnant before either Zi and certainly not with twins...twins Zi! You and Tony are gonna have two babies to match your two boys." She said.

"Yes." She said quietly. She could not help but worry how two babies would impact on the family finances. Abby sensed she was worried.

"It'll work out Zi...you have a family remember?" she said. Ziva smiled.

"Yes I do, I'm sure it will be fine." She said with a wide smile. It will have to be, she thought. They were on there way now.

Xoxoxoxoxoxox

Maddie once again had her nose out of joint. Tony and the twins were going over to Jess house. Her Mommy and Daddy didn't wanna go, cos Ducky was coming to their house for dinner. She loved Ducky, everyone did, but the others would have fun and there was NO Mommies there at all which meant pizza not vegetables and fun. Ducky's stories were...well they were long, but they weren't fun. She folded her arms and pouted her best pout. She even managed to make a tear roll down her sad little cheek. Jess came up and gave her hand a squeeze.

"I'll ask my Daddy if you can come too." She said with a smile. Miraculously Maddie's tears dried up and she smiled.

"Daddy can Maddie come over for dinner and to play too?" Jess asked.

"I already asked them Jess. They have plans." Tim said.

"But couldn't Maddie come anyway. We'd be good." She pleaded. Tim smiled at the little girl who still melted his heart.

"Ok. If her folks say it's ok." He said. What's one more child in the mix, he thought. Jess ran off squealing and tugged on Gibbs hand.

"What can I do for you Jess?" he asked.

"Daddy says that Maddie can come over if it's ok with you. Can she...please?" Jess pleaded again. This time with her hands pressed together as if she was in prayer. Gibbs rolled his eyes and grinned.

"How can I say no to a face like that?" he said. Maddie looked on amazed. That face never seemed to work with her. Still she wasn't about to get herself in to trouble now. She was going and that was all that counted.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo 

"Ok what're we going to get for dinner?" Tony said with a big grin.

"Ah lemme see." Tim said. "Pizza?"

"Of course. I feel like celebrating. My kids are happy and my wife is fine as is my friend and your wife of course. ...I'm having TWINS...again. I am...beyond excited." Tony said. He seemed to be unable to wipe the smile form his dial. Tim grinned back.

"I have to say I'm pretty relieved myself." He said. "On all counts. Abby and the kids are ok...we're only having one baby...not that I'd be disappointed with twins but I already have a houseful."

"Yeah. We are sooo lucky. Reasonably well behaved kids..." Tony said.

"Yep. You set the boundaries and then you can relax a little cos you've taught them how to behave." Tim said.

"Uhhuh. I've made mistakes but I've learned from them. " Tony said with an air of finality. "Let's get some beers too." Tim looked a little unsure.

"I dunno Tony. We're alone with five kids. Sarah is out with Zac." He said.

"We're only gonna have a few. Watch the game...relax." The boys'll just play video games and the girls'll just do...what ever little things that girls do...play with dollies?" Tim shrugged. He guessed it wouldn't hurt and he did need to relax. It had been a hell of a day. 

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxox 

"I'll take the boys and you take the girls." Tony said. It dawned on Tim that they were down to one car. He'd have to do something about a new van probably before the insurance even came through. Man...a beer and a game sounded great.

"Done." he said. "We'll call the pizza from home. I have beer there already." Tim said.

"Ok then we're all set." He said still smiling.

Xoxoxoxoxoxox

Gibbs, Kim and Ducky were just about to sit down to dinner when the phone rang.

"Gibbs." Gibbs said in his usual clipped tone.

"Boss we were wondering if Maddie could stay over." Tim said.

"Shouldn't be a problem." Gibbs said. "I'll just check with Kim." He covered the handset. "Tim wants to know if Maddie can sleep over." Kim nodded.

"Fine by me if he thinks they can cope." She said. "But she's gonna need her dance stuff for tomorrow morning."

"Fine Tim but I'll have to bring over her dance stuff in the morning." He said.

"Great." Tim said. The girls jumped up and down happily. "See you then."

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"Ok." Tim said when the kids all looked like they were full. "Upstairs and play quietly. It's adult time now." The kids all jumped up from the table and ran up the stairs. The boys all scrambled into Dyl's room and sat on the bed. The girls hurried into Jess's room.

Xoxoxoxoxoxox

Tony put the game on the big screen and Tim dropped into the chair next to him after tossing him a beer. They both sighed contentedly. This was the life, Tim thought. Kids all playing upstairs quietly and he and Tony chilling with a game. Tony was having similar thoughts. Well he would have been if he hadn't have had his whole mind set on the game. 

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo 

Upstairs the boys realised that three was one two many to play much so they were looking for something else to amuse themselves. Dyl rustled around in his junk drawer and held up the prize he's been searching for.

"Yes!" Kyle said excitedly. "We can throw them at people in the street while they're walking their dogs and stuff." Dyl frowned.

"I don't think they'll go that far." He said.

"They will if they're LAUNCHED." Mike said with a grin. He was a little nervous about getting in trouble again but his Mom wasn't here and he really didn't think anything would wipe the smile off his Dad's face at the moment.

"Excellent idea..." Kyle said. He was in awe of this new side of his brother. He seemed to be a more balanced mix of way too good Mike and scary evil Mike. "Do ya have a sling shot Dyl?"

"Nope. We could make one." He said. Dyl loved when they had fun together, even though it usually meant trouble...but it'd be worth it to see the funny side of his friends again. It had sucked when they were all quiet and stuff... no fun at all.

"Good idea." Mike said. "We need something really elastic and stretchy. And then a piece of wood that has two prongs." Kyle's face lit up.

"Where's your Mom keep her bras." He said. Dyl blushed bright red and giggled.

"Ewww." Mike said.

"Any other suggestions?" Kyle asked. Mike tilted his head from side to side.

"Not really. Actually it'd probably work. Dyl had a bad feeling about this but there was no way he'd chicken out in front of his friends. Anyway he really wanted to see what would happen and how far they could make the balloons go.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Maddie and Jess were playing with the dolls in Jess room. They were changing outfits and doing their hair. Both girls had dressed there Barbie in a robe. They were going to play going to a spa. They were going to just wear a robe themselves but the boys were across the hall so they put on swimsuits. They were gonna use Jess' Mommy and Daddy's bathtub cos it had these neat things that when you turned them on made the water extra bubbly.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The boys were in Tim and Abby room rifling around in her underwear drawer. Dyl held up a black leather bra with the very tip of two fingers. Just touching his Mom's bras was a little weird. "This one?" he said. Mike shook his head.

"It needs to have more bounce." He said. Kyle stuck his hand in the drawer and felt around until he found another one.

"This should do it." He said. Dyl crammed the drawer shut and they hotfooted out of their with Abby best Victoria's Secret bra in tow.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo 

No sooner had the boys left the room than the girls entered and crept into the bathroom.

"Whoa...look at all these neat bottles of stuff!" Maddie said. They started to take off the lids and smell each one. "Oh we are gonna smell so good. Which one should we use?" Jess shrugged.

"Why don't we put some of all of them and then we'll smell extra extra good." Jess said. Maddie grinned big. She had missed playing with Jess so much. Both little girls start to pour copious quantities from the bottles into the tub.

"We should wash our hair too." Maddie said. Jess nodded.

"We better not use this one." She said pointing to Tim's shampoo. "We don wanna smell like a boy.." Both girls collapsed in giggles and then emptied Abby's shampoo and conditioner into the tub on top of all the other stuff. They stood back and surveyed their handiwork.

"This is gonna make a LOT of bubbles." Jess said with a big smile.

"I know. Mommy NEVER lets me put in that much bubbles." Maddie said with excitement. Both girls peered down happily. The entire bottom of the tub was covered in various liquids. Jess turned on the taps and water gushed into the bath, it was filled with bubbles almost instantly. The girls dropped the doll's robes on the ground and hopped inside.

"This is nice." Maddie said with a big grin. The water was only just covering her legs but the bubbles were up to her neck. "But it's a little slippery."

"Uhhuh." Jess said, but she was gettiing a little worried... "Um Maddie..." she said in a bit of a panic. The water was still low but the bubbles were starting to cover her face. She didn't like it. "'Sok Jess." Maddie said. "I think we putted too much stuff." She said. "We'll get out." She took her friends hand and they tried to climb out ...neither of them had the presence of mind to turn off the tap. Try as they might though they couldn't stop their feet from slipping on the bottom of the bathtub. "Uh oh." Jess said in a scared voice.

"Hang on tight and lift your leg." Maddie said with a squeal. Unfortunately the very part of the bath that she hung onto was the button for the spa jets. Water and bubbles started spraying everywhere but Maddie had managed to get over the edge. She grabbed onto Jess and helped her to lift herself out as well.

"My dolly!" Jess wailed.

"Shhh Jess." Maddie said. "We'll get in trouble." She leaned over and turned off the taps but the damage had already been done. The entire floor was one mass of bubbles that almost covered their heads. They couldn't even see the bath let alone the spa jet button so the bubbles were still being shot out of the bath like a fountain.

Xoxoxoxoxoxox

The boys, oblivious to the mess the girls had made were sitting in Dyl's room with Abby's bra, a pair of scissors and some duck tape.

"Now where are we gonna get the stick?" Kyle asked.

"There's a tree just outside Sarah's window..." Dyl said. "And Dad has a saw in the garage. We could cut a piece off."

"That's good but how we gonna get it?" Mike asked.

"I know." Dyl said. 

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Tony and Tim had just finished their fourth beer. Neither of them were drunk but it had been a long day so they were sort of in a trance in front of the game, totally oblivious to any trouble upstairs.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Maddie and Jess were having a ball. They had tried to get to the bath to save their dolls but kept slipping. It didn't take long for them to realise that the slipping was actually a lot of fun. They held hands and skated like they were on an ice rink and then they skated separately. Then Jess slipped and almost fell. She grabbed onto the door handle to save herself but it turned and opened and she along with a tidal wave of bubbles went sliding out onto her Mommy and Daddy's bedroom floor. The bubbles just kept coming. At first they tried to sweep them back into the bathroom but they just wouldn't go.

"This room is even more fun." Maddie said as she skated around the large master bedroom. Her black hair was barely visible under the white bubbly wig and beard. Jess giggled.

"You look funny." She said.

"So do you." Maddie slipped and fell on her bottom and Jess giggled even harder before toppling over herself. Now they were out of the bathroom, the spa jets were long forgotten.

Xoxoxoxoxoxox

"Hey Dad?" Dyl asked. "Have you fed the dogs?"

"Oh no. I haven't." Tim said sleepily.

"Would you like us to do it?" He asked.

"Thanks Dyl." Tim said. "Thanks boys."

"No problem." Dyl said with a slight smirk at the boys as they escaped to the garage. Dyl and Mike went into the garage and Kyle had a brainwave.

"I'll toss the empty cans for you Uncle Tim." Kyle said with a sweet smile. Tim smiled back. These kids had really grown up. They were so well behaved now. Helpful even.

"Thanks Kyle." He said. Tony winked at him.

"Yeah Kyle...good job and we didn't even have to ask. Kyle grabbed up the cans off the table, even the half full ones and the rest of the trash and headed for the kitchen.

Neither Tony or Tim noticed as he threw the empties in the recycling and the trash in the bin and scooted up the stairs with the two half empty cans. 

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

By the time the Mike and Dyl had come back to the bedroom with the handsaw he had filled about six water balloons with the beer.

"Oh shit." Mike said. "You filled them with beer?"

"Seemed like a good idea at the time." He said. "Shame to waste it." The others shrugged.

"We better go get the branch now." Dyl said "Just in case Sarah comes home." They headed off to Sarah's room with the handsaw in tow. As they passed Tim and Abby's room they could here the girls giggling. Dyl winced. That wasn't good. They were sure to be up to no good, but there wasn't much he could do about it now. If he told he'd put an end to their own fun.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Tim went to pick up his beer. "Hey!" he said. "Did you drink mine?" he said.

"Um NO!"Tony said. "Why would I want your left overs I already have my own." He went to pick up his own and realised his can was empty too.

"We must have drunk them and not noticed." He said. "Kyle probably took it when he took the cans." Tim shrugged.

"Oh well I'll just get us another." He said.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox 

The boys had gone into Sarah's room and were all peering out the window. It seemed that the tree was a little further over than Dyl had remembered.

"We're gonna have to get out on the roof and lean over." Kyle said.

"I'll do it." Dyl said. "It was my idea. I'd feel bad if someone fell." Kyle rolled his eyes.

"No one is gonna fall." He said. "Look at that small branch there. It's perfect...I'll do it." Before either of them could argue he'd stepped out of the window onto the roof with the saw he'd snatch niftily from his brothers hand. The others held their breath as they watched him scoot along the roof on his backside towards the edge. He sat right on the edge of the roof and sawed at the branch. It didn't even take very long. It wasn't very big.

Mike and Kyle breathed a sigh of relief as he stepped back inside the window holding up his prize triumphantly. They wasted no time at all in getting back to Dyl's room to complete their mission.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox 

"Jethro, I was thinking... " Kim said.

"Mmhmm." When a sentence started like that Gibbs knew he had an errand coming.

"I don't know if it's a good idea to leave Maddie's stuff until tomorrow." Kim said. "I have that dentist appointment early tomorrow and if you get a case there won't be anyway to get it there." Gibbs put down the paper and got up.

"I've got a great idea. Why don't I just go drop it off right now."

"Good idea!" she said with a grin. "I'm glad you thought of it." Gibbs chuckled.

"Shouldn't take long anyway." He said. 

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

A bit tired from all the skating fun, the girls had started to panic a little. The bubbles had started to move towards the door that lead to the hallway. They both laid on their tummies and spread their arms to try and build a dam of sorts. Didn't work. Well it did a bit but it also got in their mouths and on their faces. They weren't able to keep it up for long.

"What are we gonna do?" Jess asked.

"I dunno." Maddie said. She was tired now.

"We need a proper dam." Jess said "Like Dyl build's in the dirt."

"Where would we get the dirt from?" Maddie asked. Jess giggled.

"Not dirt silly. Something else."

"What?" Maddie said.

"I dunno either. Clothes?" Jess said. She was tired too and she couldn't think what to do. 

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

The boys had cut Abby's bra and taped it to the stick with the duck tape. Now they stood at the window waiting to fire the first missile.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Gibbs pulled up at the front of Abby and Tim's house. He didn't park in the driveway because there were already two cars there and he wasn't going to be staying long. He grabbed up Maddie's bag and stepped around the side of the car to be smacked dead centre in the forehead with something. His eyes opened wide in shock as the plastic exploded and he was doused with what smelled like stale beer.

"What the..." he looked down to see the remnants of a burst water balloon.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"Holy shit!" Dyl said. Mike's mouth dropped open and Kyle's expletive was worse than Dyl's. He really thought that it would have been Zac or Sarah...they would have had a sense of humour.

"What are we gonna do?" Dyl said.

"Um.."Mike said in a panic.

"We get down stairs as fast as we can and plead innocence." Kyle said. They quickly pushed all the evidence under Dyl's bed and made a run for the stairs. 

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"Maddie?" Jess said. "I need to go to the bafroom." Maddie looked back at the bathroom they'd just come from. There was no way they were going to get back in there. She took Jess hand.

"We'll have to open the door and close it real quick." She said. They opened the door but weren't quick enough. The bubbles rushed straight out after them and they squealed and made a run for the stairs. Trouble or not it was time to tell Jess's Daddy.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Gibbs took off up the driveway at a jog. What in the hell had been going on here he thought.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxox 

At the sound of the girls squeals and the thunderous noise of the boys all tearing down the stairs Tony and Tim came out of the living room to greet a horror story.

Three boys with very guilty faces at the bottom of the stairs...too scared little girls with what looked like a river of bubbles chasing THEM down the stairs and then the icing on the cake...a pissed off Gibbs that looked like he'd been squirted with a hose, but smelled a lot worse.

He looked at each person individually and then the bubbles as they now were pooling around the kids feet.

"What the hell has been going on here?" he bellowed at a sheepish looking Tony and Tim.

TBC


	114. Chapter 114

Thank you all for your reviews and alerts. We discuss this every time but I do appreciate all of them...so thank you.

A short warning...this chapter has a mega amount of spanking in it so if that's your thing you better turn around right now.

Thank you again to Maudlin Muse who writes with me. I always appreciate her invaluable help :)

So I hope you all enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 114

There was total silence in the room as everyone waited for everyone else to speak. The first voice came from the littlest.

"I need the bafwoom." Jess said as she did a dance up and down on the spot.

"Quickly Jess but come straight back." Tim said. Maddie went to follow her.

"Stay right exactly where you are!" Gibbs said sternly. As usual though stern had little effect on Maddie who was less comfortable at the thought of explaining the mess she found herself in...literally.

"Ima just gonna help her." She tried. The boys almost giggled when Gibbs rolled his eyes.

"With what exactly?" he said in exasperation.

"Um..." she hadn't thought that far.

"Exactly." She's seven she can manage by herself." Gibbs said. He looked over at Tim and Tony who were apparently still speechless. "I think you two geniuses' better go find out where all the bubbles are coming from don't you?"

"Ah yeah good idea."

"Yes Boss." They both rattled off at the same time as they ran up the stairs... well...ran...stumbled...squelched. As they came closer to the devastation that used to be Tim and Abby's bedroom, Tony started to laugh. It really wasn't funny but it kind of was...the few beers that had made them so complacent earlier were now helping them to see the funny side and Tim could do nothing else but join Tony in his mirth. They were trying at the same time to reach the bathroom but it was hard...the more they slipped and banged into each other and fell over the more they giggled. Finally they reached the bathroom and Tim hit the button to stop the jets. Exhausted he slid down and sat with his head leaning against the tub. For the first time he took a really good look at the mess.

"Holy Fuck!" he said uncharacteristically. That made Tony laugh even more until he fell flat on his face, slipping several times before he was able to sit up and console his friend.

"Snot that bad..." he tried. They burst into fits of giggles again.

"Abby's gonna kill me." Tim said. He looked up to find Gibbs standing in the doorway.

"If there's any of you two morons left after I finish with you." He said. They both gulped.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Downstairs in two different rooms, five children were standing in corners each rubbing the sting from a distinct Leroy Jethro Gibbs designer handprint that had been left as a reminder on each of their backsides...that they were to not move.

"Jess?" Maddie whispered. "You ok?" Jess nodded as she sniffed but she wasn't game to turn around. Maddie started to cry. She didn't like it when Jess was upset. Jess turned her head around to her friend.

"I'm okay Maddie." She said with a sniff. "Don't cry."

"Ok." Maddie said sadly.

"What's the story?" Kyle asked...at the other two's silence he repeated himself. "The story, we need to have the same story." Dyl and Mike looked at each other.

"It's Gibbs dumb ass. A story will make it worse not better." Mike said. Dyl wouldn't have been quite so blunt but...

"I think we have to tell the truth." Dyl said as diplomatically as he could.

"Yeah ok but..."

"Nope no buts. Not worth it with Gibbs. If he catches us in a lie..." Mike said. Dyl's eyes went huge.

"No not lying to Gibbs." He said. Kyle shrugged.

"Ok." He said with a sigh. "We'll just have to explain that we thought it was gonna hit someone else." Dyl burst into a fit of giggles and Mike looked at his brother incredulously and shook his head.

"I think that maybe we could leave that small detail out Kyle. Just say we were aiming for the tree and it overshot." Kyle smiled. See a story. He wasn't quite the dumb ass everyone thought he was.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"What were you two thinking?" Gibbs said as he ran a hand through his hair. "Since when do you drink when you are alone with children...? And then not even to check on them." Tony opened his mouth but then closed it again on his tongue when Gibbs' hand collided with the back of his head. "Don't even think about saying you did Dinozzo...look around you. Clearly you didn't." Suddenly Tim didn't see the humour in the situation anymore.

"They could have been hurt. We were stupid." He said.

"Yes they could." Gibbs said.  
"Thorry Both." Tony said. His tongue seemed to have lost the will to speak. He didn't blame it. They had almost drowned the boss's daughter...not the smartest move. Well not exactly...they just totally ignored her while she nearly drowned herself...and Jess. Tony winced at his own thoughts...and then something else came to mind.

"Ah Both...how comth you thmell like beer?" he asked with great difficulty.

"That would be because one or all of your cute little cherubs launched a water balloon at me that just happened to be filled with beer." He grouched. "Coincidence ya think?" While both of them were trying to put together the answer to that question Gibbs disappeared into Dyl's room for some evidence.

"Heeth pithed."Tony said with his newly acquired lisp. Tim started to giggle again uncontrollably. But when Gibbs stuck his head back in he tried to start cleaning up with a towel. Gibbs again rolled his eyes.

"Do you have a wetvac McGee?" he asked. Tim tried to nod seriously but his shaking shoulders were a dead give away. Gibbs walked away shaking his head.

Xoxoxoxoxoxox

Gibbs stood in Dyl's room with his eyes narrowed while he scanned the room for anything that stood out. Then he smiled. What is it with kids he thought? They always think to hide the main piece of evidence but leave the prelude to the disaster spread out in plain view. Lying in a pile were...scissors, bits and pieces of what used to be a bra, a saw...a saw? He was gonna tear a strip off those boys asses big and little.

Somewhere in this room was a slingshot. He looked around the room and then under the bed. "Bingo." He said as he hoisted it out along with a couple of empty beer cans and the rest of the water or beer filled balloons. He had to smile at the rough home made version of something he once enjoyed using himself as a kid. Although he used rocks to knock cans off a fence... not a beer filled water balloon at someone's face. He looked at the wood and then out of Dyl's window. They didn't get it from here. He wandered out into the hallway and looked around. Sarah's door was open. As he got through the doorway he could see the tree the boys had used, it was perfect and they hadn't even shut the window after them. He went closer and shook his head at how far away it was. Who ever had cut off this branch had had to have done it from the roof. With a saw...while no one knew. Wow. Anything could have happened.

Gibbs had found enough evidence now to quell the most ridiculous of stories. It was time he roasted those kids' butts so they could get to bed. He crept quietly down the stairs with his arms full of stuff and placed it all on the dining room table. Nothing for the girls, but their evidence was still all over the stairs. They could hardly deny it.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Gibbs sat down on the sofa silently and watched the two wayward princesses from behind. Jess stood as still as a seven year old who should have been in bed a while ago could. Especially one who was expecting a spanking. Maddie on the other hand sighed dramatically and shifted from foot to foot. Then it occurred to Gibbs that she wasn't shifting...she was dancing. There was obviously some kind of music playing in her head. For the umpteenth time since he'd arrived there he rolled his eyes.

"Come over here girls." He said. "What you did was very naughty and extremely dangerous." He said.

"Whatwe do?" Maddie asked. "We just taked a bath!" Gibbs frowned.

"Nice try Maddie." He said. "You were in a room you have been told repeatedly to stay out of doing something you didn't have permission to do. NO ONE knew you were in there. You could have drowned." Jess's eyes filled with tears.

"We just wanted to take our dollies to the day spa." She said in a small voice.

"Yeah." Maddie said. "But we putted too much stuff in there and we couldn't find the bath and then we accidentally hit that button that made the bubbles shoot out everywhere." Jess nodded enthusiastically.

"We didn't meaned to wreck up the room and all Mommy's stuff." She said. Gibbs gave them both a grim smile. "Maybe not but that's exactly what happened. The only reason you're not helping to clean up the mess is because it's too late. But tomorrow, you both can help make things nice for when the Mommies come home from hospital." Both girls nodded seriously. "Go upstairs and put pyjamas on and I'll be up in a minute." Both girls tiptoed up the stairs around the bubbly mess they'd created.

Xoxoxoxoxoxox

Next, Gibbs went into the family room and perched on the coffee table. "Turn around." He said. All three boys turned to face him slowly although none were managing to make full eye contact. "Anyone wanna guess why I'm so angry with you boys?" Nothing...from any of them... just a lot of shuffling and the odd cough. "Sure? ... Fine, follow me boys." When Gibbs turned his back to walk to the dining room the boys exchanged nervous glances. The looks turned to wide eyed shock when they saw what Gibbs had to show them.

"WOW! Where'd ya get all that stuff?" Kyle asked with his best innocent expression. Gibbs gave him a mini head slap.

"All over Dyl's room Kyle." He said. Kyle opened his mouth to expand on the 'missing the tree' explanation but was shut down immediately. "I wouldn't." Kyle closed his mouth.

"We're sorry..." Dyl said.

"Yeah we really are Mike said."

"Uhhuh." Kyle said hoping that would work better. Not so that you would notice.

"And someone climbed out onto the roof with a saw?"

"Um yeah...it was me." Dyl said. "...But I was careful." Gibbs pursed his lips.

"That Dyl... just earned you an extra lick. There is NO possible way to get onto a roof with a saw carefully. What if you'd fallen?"

"I guess I could have cut myself?" Dyl offered.

"At the very least." Gibbs said. "Who filled the water balloons with beer?" Kyle raised one finger. "Where'd you get it?"

"Um...I kind of collected the cans for Uncle Tim and Dad."

"They ask you to do that?"

"No I kind of offered."

"Hmmmmm. I just bet you did. You're also getting an extra lick...Now who got the saw from the garage?" Dyl and Mike both winced.

"Us." They both said dejectedly at the same time.

"And how did you manage to get the saw back through the house with out anyone noticing?"

"We said we were gonna feed the dogs." Dyl said. "But we did feed them.."

"Hmm."

"Ok all three of you bend over the back of the couch. You're all getting six licks and Kyle and Dyl are getting one extra each." The boys' eyes widened.

"We're not talking about ice-cream here are we?" Mike said at a very poor attempt at nervous humour.

"No and now you'll get an extra lick for being a smart ass."

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The girls changed into their pyjamas and then sat on the edge of the bed nervously. Jess's eyes filled with tears.

"I don't wanna have a spanking from Gibbs. I want my Mommy." She said sadly. "I don't like it when she's not here." Maddie took Jess hand and held it.

"It's ok Jess. My Mommy says that Daddy's bark is worser than his bite." She said helpfully. Jess eyes opened really widely and a big fat tear escaped and ran down her cheek. "He BITES?"

"No silly." Maddy giggled "It's a spression...it means like he sounds sort of meaner than he really is."

"Oh." Jess said with relief. "So his spanking don't hurt that much?" Maddie made a face.

"No they hurt plenty but he won't be mad no more after." Jess thought about that ...no it didn't really make her feel any better. She'd been spanked by Gibbs before but a long time ago. She really wanted her Mommy and where was her Daddy anyway? She thought.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Her Daddy was well ensconced in a private hell with Tony. Both their heads were thumping now with sheer frustration at trying to get up all the bubbles. Even with the help of a wetvac the task was mammoth. Cleaning up the bubbles just revealed more mess underneath. The girls had pulled down all kinds of clothes out of the closet to build a dam of sorts and they were all drenched.

Gibbs stuck his head into the room that was a little better if not exactly fixed. "When the kids are asleep I wanna see you two in the garage." He barked.

"Um ok." Tony said.

"Yeah...yes Boss." Tim said with a frown. Tony looked up with a smile. Thankfully his tongue was back to normal at least.

"So we bein taken to the woodshed then Boss?" Gibbs gave the first flash of white teeth that he'd shown all night.

"Something very much like it." He said with a grin before leaving them to their mess.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Downstairs three nervous young boys shuffled and wriggled from their positions over the sofa. Their fate was sealed and there was nothing they could do about it. Except turn on each other.

"I knew it was a dumb idea." Mike said. "This is all your fault Kyle." Kyle narrowed his eyes and swung his hips until he nearly knocked his brother out of position.

"Didn't see you sayin nothin at the time Mr "They will if they're launched!" he spat.

"Well it was your idea to throw them in the first place!" Mike said.

"Shhhh. They were my balloons... it was all our faults." Dyl said.

"Shut up Dyl." Both the twins said in unison. They all pushed and shoved a little as quietly as they could manage, but with Gibbs and his belt on the horizon the fight soon fizzled into an uncomfortable silence while they awaited their fates.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The girls looked up when Gibbs came into the room and sat on the bed. "We've already discussed this so let's get right to it. Maddie go wait out side please in the hallway...and don't even think of running away." Maddie didn't move and didn't let go of Jess hand.

"But...but Daddy Jess is scared!" Maddie wailed.

"Scoot Maddie." Gibbs said sending her off with a sting in her tail. Maddy narrowed her eyes and stomped out the door slamming it behind her. Gibbs got up wearily and opened it again. "How about you go back and try that again...nicely." Maddie opened her mouth to retort but then thought better of it. She did as she was told, repeating the action quietly if not exactly nicely. "Thankyou." Gibbs said opening the door and closing it quietly behind him.

Before sitting on the bed he went to the dresser and picked up the wooden hairbrush. Jess's eyes widened in fear.

"I'm sorry." She said in a very small voice.

"I know Jess but what you and Maddie did was serious and you have to be punished. I don't ever want you to do anything like that again." Jess nodded, tears already rolling down her face. Gibbs lifted her over his knee and brought the brush down firmly. Jess yelped and covered her face with her hands.

"It hurtssss." She said.

"I know honey that's the point." Four quick smacks with the brush had Jess wailing...

"I want my Mommmmy. Stop your hurting me..." One more firm spank and the spanking was over. Gibbs pulled Jess up into his arms and cuddled her while he crooned.. "Shhhhshhhh. It's all over." All of a sudden the door burst open and Tim walked in.

"Couldn't let them wait all night Tim and that water needs to be dried up off those wood floors." Tim looked at Jess sadly. They should have taken better care of them. Gibbs put Jess down and she ran into Tim's arms and he scooped her up.

"I'm...sorry... Daddy..." she said through her tears. "Gi...bbs...spanked me...wif that...brush."

"I know...but honey if he hadn't done that I would have." Tim said.

"It hurted." She cried.

"I know. I know. Spankings hurt, so we remember not to do the same things again." Jess nodded into his shoulder.

"Ok now Daddy has to go finish cleaning and you need to wait outside the door for Maddie." Tim said as he carried his daughter out of the room. He placed Jess down in Maddie's spot.

"Your turn Maddie." He said as he opened the door and watched her walk inside.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"What's takin so long?" Kyle whined. "I hate waitin."

"Shhh...you want for Gibbs to come down here and spank you?" Dyl asked.

"No course not but he's gonna do it...may as well get it over with..." Dyl nodded.

"Think he's gonna spank us with his belt?" Mike asked as he bit his lip.

"What makes you think that?" Dyl asked wide eyed.

"He said lick..."

"That don't mean nothin. He 's probably just tryin to scare us." Kyle said.

"Uhhuh." Dyl said. "It's working."

"I don't think he's gonna use his hand." Mike said. Kyle rolled his eyes.

"Why?"

"Cos we're bent over the couch. He usually...you know...makes us bend over his knee." Kyle wasn't rolling his eyes anymore. What if he was going to use the belt?

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Gibbs patted the bed for Maddie to sit next to him but it only drew her attention to the wooden brush.

"Don't wanna get spanked wif that brush..." Maddie said backing towards the door.

"No choice Maddie...come on." Gibbs said.

"Daddy!" Maddie wailed. "I...we...we was just havin a bath...and..."

"Over here right now Miss Maddie." Gibbs said sternly.

"But it was Uncle Tim...and Uncle Tony's fault...they didn't watched us...they didn't say no..." Maddie had backed into the door and could go no further. She turned around quickly and her hand closed on the handle and she found her scooped up and swatted mid-air.

" Noooo...You're killliiiing me" she screached.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Downstairs the boys all looked at each other and then bent very still over the sofa. That's all they needed was for Maddie to put him in an even worse mood first. Little did they know that Gibb's had barely touched his overdramatic daughter...yet.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Stop that!" Gibbs said with another swat as Maddie dug her little toes into his ribs. He sat on the bed and tossed Maddie over his knee with ease. He clamped his leg over hers to keep her from kicking her way free. Now unable to move her legs Maddie had nothing left to fight with but her hands and her voice so she pounded the bed with her fists and screamed like she was being murdered as Gibbs brought the brush down sharply on her bottom.

"Yeoooowwwww. Sttooooppp. I hate you..." she yelled at the top of her lungs.

"Cut it out Maddie." Gibbs said. He paused for a moment and lowered her pants, he hadn't wanted to do that while he was spanking her with the brush but she was being a brat and he couldn't allow her to carry on like that unchecked. He brought the hairbrush down again.

"No.. no.. no.. you're a meannie... a meannie ...and ...ow ow...your hurting me!" Gibbs took a deep breath and paddled Maddie's bare bottom a few more times with the brush.

"No...no...so...rr..y Daddy...no." It really hurted bad wif no pants...Gibbs finished off her spanking as fast as he could and then pulled her up into his arms.

"Shhh...come on Madds." He said as she sobbed uncontrollably into his shirt. "Calm down."

"I won't...never...do...that...again...Daddy." she sobbed.

"I know..." Gibbs cuddled his daughter and brushed her dark hair away from her face.

"I'm ok. ...Can Jess come back in now?" she asked.

"Yes she can." Gibbs said. He stood up and opened the door and Jess came in quietly. As he left he had to smile at the two little girls face down sniffling on the same bed. He'd just bet his name would be mud as soon as he closed the door. Oh well.

Neither of the girls even noticed Gibbs pop the brush into his pocket. Although they probably would have been pleased to see it go.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"Anyone here not know why they're about to be spanked?" Gibbs barked using the element of surprise to unnerve the three boys. It worked a treat and they all jumped nearly six feet in the air.

"No Gibbs"

"No Gibbs"

"No Gibbs." Came three staggered but identical answers.

"Good...then let's get on with it then." The boys all squeezed their eyes shut and waited for the whistle of a belt through loops...nope...no whistle. Gibbs produced the brush from his pocket and held it up high. He brought it down on Kyle bottom with a loud thwack. "Jees...Owwwwww!" he yelled. The other boys' heads spun around to see what was in Gibbs' hand. Uh oh. They both thought. But neither had a chance to think much before the brush connected with each of their butts.

"Owwww."

"Yeooowww!" they yelled

The next few had all three boys howling. Tears streamed down their faces as the brush fell over and over. He didn't even do it in order so they never knew who was gonna be next. It was like some crazy spanking roulette. But Gibbs knew and he was counting. Each boy got exactly what they deserved. Finally Gibbs brought the hairbrush back and smacked it down on each boys sit spots before stopping. They all sobbed pitifully reaching back to rub their burning backsides when they realised it was finally finished.

"We're sorry..." Dyl said.

"Yea...h...so...rry" Mike sobbed.

"Me...tooo." Kyle said. Gibbs held out his arms and all three fell into them in a group hug.

"I don't EVER want you boys to put yourselves in danger like that again." He said.

"We won't." They all muttered.

"Ok..." he said. "Upstairs...pyjamas teeth and bed." They all ran for their lives glad to have the ordeal finally over.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Gibbs made himself some coffee and sat at the table with the paper. Watching with amusement as Tony and Tim did lap after lap to the laundry room with sodden clothes and towels. Finally after his fourth coffee...he looked up to see Tim putting the wet vac back in the garage.

"Finished?" he asked.

"Yeah...I'll have to run the blow heaters on the floors but it should be ok by morning...Boss...I'm sorry that we didn't watch Maddie more." He said. Tony had entered by now and joined in.

"Yeah Boss, we assumed they were being good." he said.

""Hmmm. Never assume..."

"Yeah I know ...it makes ass out of you and me." Tony finished.

"Yep...and it also gets your ass tanned." Both Tim and Tony looked up sharply.

"You can't be serious...I was joking about the woodshed thing." Tony said incredulously.

"I wasn't." Gibbs said. "You two sat around drinking beer and watching a game while your boys were playing with saws and throwing beer at people and then your daughter and MINE played in a bath for so long that they could have drowned and neither of you brainiacs would have even noticed in time to ring 911. Are you telling me that you really don't think you deserve a damn good whipping?"

"Um...well...but I'm a grown man." Tony said.

"Bosss...I ..." Try as he might Tim could come up with nothing. He was the disciplinarian around here and he prided himself on being fair."

"You may be grown men Tony but you acted like a pair of teenagers today...so that's how I'm gonna treat you."

"Um..."

"Garage now!" he said.

There wasn't much room in the garage what with Tim's car and all the junk that a family accumulates over the years. Still... Neither Tim or Tony had any inclination to do this anywhere in earshot of their kids so the garage it was. Always thinking Tony picked the side of the car that was closest to the shelves. Less room to swing he mused. Gibbs of course was on to him.

"Do you think I came down in the last shower Dinozzo?" He barked. "Get down here at the end. And for being such a coward you can take down your sweats.

"Awww come on Boss I was just joking!" Tony whined. Tim rolled his eyes and bent over the end of the car. It really needed a polish he thought. He'd have to see about getting it to the detailers. Gibbs waited none too patiently for Tony to get himself in place.

"Are we set Dinozzo...would you like a pillow for your head?" he asked sarcastically.

"No Boss...I'm good." He said.

"Good. Now lower your sweats."

"Come on...please.." Gibbs undid the buckle on his belt and THEY heard the whistle of the belt. He whacked it around Tony's calves. I swear he's as bad as Maddie, he thought.

"Pants down now!" he said. Tony jumped and lowered his pants...quickly.

Finally, Gibbs raised the belt high and brought it down with a sharp crack on Tim's backside. He hissed but kept as still as he could. Mirroring the same action he brought the belt down again this time across Tony's boxer clad backside making him yell loudly. They were scant protection from the onslaught that followed as Gibbs set to lighting both asses on fire. He ignored their protests and kept on spanking making sure that they never took their kids safety for granted in such a way again. They grunted and yelped and shouted out but Gibbs didn't stop until he felt they had learned their lesson."

"Please stop!" Tim said at last. "I'm so sorry." Gibbs dropped the belt on the floor. Tim stayed bent over and took deep breaths while he got himself under control.

"Me too Boss." Tony said as he tried to swallow the emotion..."I...I was stupid...and I acted Like a kid ...I'm sorry."

"I know you both'll think next time...you're new to this...you have to keep your eyes open all the time." He said. He gave each of them a half hug and a pat on the back. "I don't know about you boys but I'm exhausted...I'm going home for some sleep."

"Kay. Night Boss." Tim said.

"Night Boss." Tony called.

They looked at the clock...it was 2:00am. Bed...at last. Gibbs stuck his head back in.

"Oh I nearly forgot...I brought over Maddie's stuff...But I don't think she deserves to go to dance tomorrow I'm just gonna go back upstairs and take her home with me."

"Yeah good idea." We're gonna have to fix the house up properly before we go get Abs anyway." Tim said.

"Yeah." Gibbs said remembering he'd told Maddie she had to help. "I'll come back with Maddie in the morning and we'll help."

"Thanks Gibbs...is that part of the punishment?" Tony said under his breath.

"I heard that Tony...and as a matter of fact it is."

TBC


	115. Chapter 115

I would just like to thank everyone for their reviews and alerts and especially for your patience. I'll try not to leave it too long before the next chapter is up.

I would also like to thank the Maudlin Muse for her invaluable help.

A friend of mine has started a new website that works on exchange of fanfiction stories. So if there's a story that you always wanted to read but could never find...go and put in a request. All you have to do is write a story in return. It's easy. Go check it out please. You can use any name you like or post anonymously so it's a great chance to try something new.

the link is http : / community. livejournal. com/ the_ff_exchange/ no spaces of course

Chapter 115

Gibbs and Maddie arrived the next morning to find Tim and Tony and the kids all hard at work fixing the house. It did seem like the floor hadn't suffered from the impromptu flood. They were lucky that they had caught it early. Tim was a little worried about how Abby was going to react when she found out all that had happened...Thank God no one had been really hurt.

Tony was hoping the subject wouldn't come up but knowing all the same that it would. All they could do now was try and get the house back to normal so it limited the value of the subject matter just a little. Explaining the stripes on his ass might be a little trickier. It was still throbbing as was his head and not in time with each other either. And now they had Maddie to contend with.

"Good Morning Maddie." Tim said politely.

"Mornin." Maddie said grumpily with a glance at her Daddy. She really didn't think it was a GOOD mornin. She had gone to sleep at Jess house and had woken up in her own bed AND her Mommy and Daddy said she couldn't go to dance class. Still the warning look that her Daddy gave her reminded her to be polite and to rattle off what she'd been told to say even if the sincerity was somewhat lacking. "I'm sorry Uncle Timmy. What can I do to help?"

"I have just the job for you." Tim said with a smile. He had found a token job for Jess and Maddie, that Jess had already started. The truth was that they had made a mess far too big for little girls to be able to manage, there was no way they could have fixed it without help.  
"I have started to wash and dry all of the clothes you and Jess pulled out of the closet and you and Jess are going to fold them and put them in the drawers." Maddie frowned.

"We was just makin a dam so's the bubbles wouldn't get out!" she whined.

"Maddie!" Gibbs said sternly. Maddie stomped up the stairs poking her tongue out behind her hand.

vvvvvvvvvv

The boys hadn't actually made much mess so they had been sent out the front to do yard work. Protected by rather large gardening gloves they were pulling out weeds, after they had picked up a few stray pieces of water balloon.

"This is so boring." Kyle said as he yanked out a bunch of daisies and threw them in the wheel barrow.

"Sure is." Dyl said. "I wonder how long until we go to get our Mom's."

"Not going...you're staying here with me." Gibbs said through the window. HE was not turning his back on this lot for a minute.

The boys looked at each other and sighed.

"Do you think they're gonna be mad?" Mike asked.

"Maybe they won't tell..." Kyle said.

"Gibbs'll make em." Dyl said with a sigh. The others nodded. They all hoped this wouldn't mean more trouble when their Mom's got home.

vvvvvvvvv

"Wow!" Abby said. Ziva shook her head. "I can't believe that Tim didn't keep a better eye. Usually he's like too careful.

"Yes even Tony is not usually so...stupid." Abby giggled.

"Although I would love to have been a fly on the wall when Gibbs turned up and found them oblivious to all the mahem."

"Oh yes." Ziva said... "We should have some...fun with them. They will not know that we know what happened." Abby's face split into a wide grin. She was so pleased that Kim had popped in and filled them in with all the gory details.

"No they won't will they." She said with an evil chuckle. After all the times Tim had spanked her ass, she was entitled to a little fun. He had messed up royally...

vvvvvvvvvv

"Hey Abs!" Tim said with a grin as he poked his head in the door of the girl's hospital room a while later.

"Timmy!" Abby yelled with glee flapping her arms around wildly for a hug. "I missed you!" Tim smiled sheepishly and gladly walked into her arms for a hug.

"I missed you too Abs." he said taking her hand in his. "How are you both feeling?"

"We're great!" she said "How about you... and my babies?"

"Ah...good... I'm good...and the kids too...they're good." he said nervously looking at the door.

Tony wasn't far behind him. Gibbs had stayed behind at the house with the kids so Tim and Tony could collect the girls in peace. It didn't occur to either of the boys that Ziva and Abby weren't surprised by this small detail.

"Hey Zi." he said giving her a kiss and wrapping his arm around the back of her shoulders.

"How are the twins?" she asked. She didn't miss the slight flicker of a glance he shot towards Tim. "They behaved?" Tony winced and looked at Tim for a little help.

Abs didn't miss the look on Tim's face either. This was interesting. It was like revisiting an old friend. The new self assurance that had come with Tim's new much thinner body seemed to be lacking just at this moment and the person that stood beside her awkwardly was a curious mixture of the old and the new Tim.

"They're boys...boy's will be boys and all. They weren't perfect." The man in question answered feebly.

"They didn't do anything dangerous I hope..."

"No one was hurt Zi. They're both fine." Tony said.

Tim ran his hand along Abby's bedding straightening out imaginary creases, not meeting the eyes that were boring into him. If he had, he would have seen the twinkle.

"And Dyl and Jess Tim?" Abby asked. "Were they not perfect either?" She was trying really hard to keep her face straight, but the thought of these two getting sent to the garage like two kids to the principals office was too much. "Well...were they good?" Tim looked as though he were going to fold and tell everything so Tony jumped in...

"Geez Abs...what is this the third degree?" Abby ignored him and looked at Tim patting the bed beside her.

"Come sit with me Timmy." she said with a twinkle in her eye. Tim walked over slowly and sucked in a discrete breath before sitting on the bed beside her, his game face well in place...he hoped. He was gonna tell her, he just didn't want to do it here with an audience.

Unable to take it anymore Abby giggled. "Wow, you're really good at that. Sitting has to hurt." Tim jumped up and rolled his eyes. The tell tale red blush creeping up his neck and onto his face.

"Kim huh?" he asked.

"Uhhuh...that wasn't your best Daddy day Tim." Abby said. He nodded.

"I know...we messed up."

"Yep." she said. "Monumentally."

"We just have to remember that no one was hurt here." Tony said to Ziva.

"Well not anywhere that will not heal fast." Ziva said with a smirk. "You are very lucky."

"I know Ziva I …...we...yeah you're right. We should have kept an eye on them."

"Yes you should...I am very disappointed."

"Me too." Abby said seriously. Disappointed we missed the show, she thought. "And what about the rest of the kids...they got punished?"

"Gibbs spanked them and they're cleaning up and pulling weeds as we speak." Tim said.

"Ok then. I guess that pretty much covers it. Was there any real damage?"

"Weellll...the boys used one of your bras to make a slingshot." Abby rolled her eyes.

"Uhhuh." she said. "Oh well... bras can be replaced, kids can't."

"I know...Abby...Ziva...I'm really sorry...we're really sorry." Tim said.

"Yeah we really are." Tony said.

"You know what we all need?" Abby asked rhetorically. "A family lunch...I've missed them so..."

"Yes!" Ziva said excitedly. "Could we move it to today?"

"Yes yes yes..."Abby said bounding out of bed and dancing around grabbing her things.

"I don't know Abby..." Tim said. "You should really rest." Abby planted her hands on her hips..

"I'm fine. Ziva's fine. We're all fine and I want to have lunch today...Besides, you owe me one. Think yourself lucky I'm not spanking you." she said. That was never gonna happen but it wouldn't hurt to play that card for a while...

Tim looked at Tony who shrugged. They had a point. He was all for getting things back to normal and like Abby he was dying for a family lunch.

"Ok Abs, you win." Tim said. "I'll make some calls."

vvvvvvvvvv

A few hours later found the girls all relaxing on the patio. Well most of them. Amber was decidedly antsy, finding it hard to make herself comfortable on any of the outdoor chairs.

"It's my stupid back." she grumbled as she twisted herself into a position that might provide her with some relief. Jimmy flapped around awkwardly with various cushions trying to make his girlfriend comfortable. "Jimmy...go...have fun...I'll be fine." Jimmy kissed her gently.

"If you're sure..." he said.

"Yes...go..." Amber said irritably. She was uncomfortable and felt a little like a beached whale but she was happy to be with her friends all together for a while.

"You know, we really should have done something about a wedding by now." Abby said as she glanced at the huge bump under Amber's straining shirt.

"Nope." Amber said matter of factly. "Not getting married while I look like this."

"You're beautiful. Honey." Kim said with a smile.

"Oh you lie!" Amber said. "Just look at me..."

"Kim is right...pregnancy agrees with you." Ziva said happily. "You're face is on shining."

"Glowing even." Abby said with a huge grin.

"Uhhuh, my face is as round as my tummy and as wide as my ass...no wedding...yet."

"But..."Abby started. Ziva gave her friends knee a pinch.

"Meddling Abby." she said.

"No I was just suggesting that..."

"That Amber may like to make her own decision about when she gets married." She said looking at Abby pointedly. Abby smiled.

"Yeah...exactly that."

Maddie and Jess came up to join the ladies. Maddie tugged on Amber's sleeve.

"Amber?"

"Yes hon?"

"I think you went to the bathroom in your pants." she said quietly. All faces looked down at the small puddle beneath Amber's chair.

"Ok then...you win." Abby said. "No wedding for you yet...JIMMY!"

**TBC**


	116. Chapter 116

I would like to thank everyone for their reviews and alerts, they mean the world to me.

This chapter is for all the mothers. Those that are with us and those who have passed.

Thank you as always to my friend the Maudlin Muse.

Chapter 116

Jimmy dropped the basketball that he'd been about to toss through the hoop and didn't even notice when it rolled directly towards his opponent.

"Nice one Jimmy." Tony said as he scooped up the ball and dribbled it away.

The urgency in Abby's voice set alarm bells ringing in the soon to be new father's head and a weird feeling in his tummy. It was a curious mixture of excitement and fear. He stood motionless and nearly got knocked off his feet in the rush as the game went on.

"Jimmy!" Abby screeched again, as she motioned wildly for him to come..Jimmy jogged over to where Amber was sitting looking decidedly flustered.

"You ok?" He asked bending down to her level. Tears filled her eyes as she looked down and his eyes followed hers...

"Amber had a accident." Maddie filled in helpfully.

"I..." Amber said started as she searched for the right words. Jess frowned at Maddie and tugged on her arm.

"Shh Maddie." she said.

"What? But she diiiid?"

"She's 'barrassed." Jess whispered.

"Amber?" he asked. "Is that...?" Amber nodded. "Now? It's not time... Not for another two weeks."

"I think maybe the baby has other ideas Jimmy."

"Ah...ah..." Jimmy looked around wildly trying to think what he had to do. Amber sucked in a breath and held it for a minute or so.

"Ah...I think that may have been a contraction." she said.

Hearing the word contraction brought the boys all over to see what was going on. Kim came rushing out with Ziva on her heels.

"Contraction?" Tim asked. All eyes were on Amber and her face flushed. She was all for family but this was just a little public for such an intimate event.

"I think..."

"Maybe it isn't.." Jimmy said. "It is a little soon..."

"So you said Jimmy..."Amber said... "I'll just tell the little one … Daddy's not ready." Jimmy scratched his head and pushed his glasses back onto his face..

"Dumb ass." Tony said under his breath. Gibbs glared at him.

"I didn't mean.." Jimmy tried to explain.

"It's ok...stay calm." Gibbs said. He remembered how powerless and out of control he'd felt when he'd realised that Kelly was ready to make her way into the world, like it was yesterday.

"EVERYONE take a breath." Kim said with a chastising glance at Tony. "We need to time the contractions and see if they're regular."

"Might be false labour." Jimmy agreed.

"Jimmy honey...the baby's on it's way, Amber's water broke..." Kim said as soothingly as she could muster. "We just need to figure out how much time we have before we have to get her to the hospital.

"Oh yeah...it's just..."

"We know it's too soon." Amber repeated suddenly sucking in another breath...

"Ah...Oh Geez...we don't have your bag...I'll have to go back home and get it."

"What's in it?" Tony asked.

"It has her calming music and the plan."

"Your birth plan?" Tim asked.

"Yes and... the music... and …..." Jimmy said gratefully when it looked like someone might actually understand.

"I have music." Abby said helpfully."All kinds of music..."

"Do you have Dixie Chics?" Jimmy asked. "Cos we need Dixie Chics 'Lullaby'.'

"Um...not sure about Dixie Chics." Abby said but at Jimmy's panicked expression she wrapped her arms around him. "Sok...we can download what ever you need."

"What you need is a Doctor." Gibbs said. He did not understand all this stuff...clearly there was gonna be a birth and the first priority should be to make sure that it didn't happen on the McGee's patio. "Where the hell is Ducky anyway?"

"Do you have her Doctor's number?" Kim asked.

"Speed dial...should I call? I should call. And then I should factor in the time it'll take to get to the hospital."

"Let's just time the contractions first and see. First baby, it could take a long time."

"We had three practice runs. It takes thirteen minutes at this time of day. Although that was on a weekday and..."

"It was from our house Jimmy."Amber said.

"Yeah there was that...maybe we should start again from our house.."

"Seriously Jimmy...get it together." Amber said. "We need you."

"I know ….I am...I'm trying." Jimmy started to take deep dramatic breaths while he remembered the plan.

"But the bag Amber.." Amber rolled her eyes. Maybe it was a good thing that family were here.

At the third contraction in twenty minutes, Kim looked at Jimmy. "I think maybe you better call the Doctor now honey." Jimmy stood and fished around in his pocket for his phone until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Good idea...Now what do we have here young lady?...The imminent arrival of a new family member?" There was an audible sigh of relief at the soothing English tones that how now entered the equation. Amber beamed up at Ducky gratefully. She had never been more pleased to see anyone. Neither had Jimmy. He sat down again and sagged with relief.

Ducky nudged him gently. "Go and ring the obstetrician Jimmy...bringing NEW lives into the world is not really my forte, although I will happy to help until the time comes to go to the hospital."

"Of course...of course" Jimmy babbled before punching numbers into his phone.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"How's the baby getting out of Amber's tummy Dyl?" Jess asked.

"Um...the doctor'll get it out I guess." Dyl wasn't stupid but there was no way he was gonna start answering those kinda questions.

"Ducky?"

"A baby Doctor." Kyle said.

"Where is he then?" Maddie asked.

"At the hospital I guess." Maddie looked decidedly unconvinced.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"My water broke...and my back hurts." Amber answered to Ducky's gentle questions.

"Ahh...contractions?"

"Every five minutes...they're lasting for about a minute and a half." Kim filled in helpfully.

"Hmm." Ducky said. "How long have you been experiencing the back pain?"

"Um...not sure...since the middle of last night...couldn't sleep." Ducky's eye gave a slight twitch.

"And this pain...was it constant or did it come in waves?" A light went on in Kim's head and she frowned."I think that could have been part of your labour." Ducky said. Jimmy caught the last part of the conversation and started to panic. He paced wildly up and down the patio while talking gibberish to receptionist on the other end of the phone. Gibbs walked up behind him and tapped the back of his head gently.

"CALM...DOWN." he mouthed more than spoke out loud. Jimmy nodded and tried with a shaky voice to explain their predicament.

Gibbs looked over at the sound of a giggle and realised that amongst all this chaos there were five kids who about to get a practical demonstration of how the special seed story ends. Images of Sister Mary Clarence flashed through his head making it suddenly start to hurt.

"Kids...go play upstairs." he said. He was barraged with whining and complaints about missing all the fun until he clapped and pointed to the door. Visions and tingling memories of their recent run in with Gibbs left all the kids unwilling to argue further and they all trudged dutifully inside.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Abby bounced triumphantly through the doorway with a cd in her hand. "One Dixie Chicks...'Lullaby'." she said with a grin.

"Tha...nks...Abs..." Amber said through her panting. Jimmy appeared beside her and started to rub her back.

"They said to bring my fiance to the hospital now." he said.

"Genius." Tony whispered under his breath.

"Just you wait til it's your turn." Gibbs said. Tim was saying nothing, but he was thinking...loudly. This was an eye opener.

Suddenly a little girl with long dark hair appeared in the doorway.

"Ain't you married?" she asked with wide eyes.

"Maddie go back upstairs." Kim said.

"But don't they gotta be married to have a baby?"

"Do as your Mommy told you." Gibbs said...VERY firmly. Maddie pouted before turning on her her heel to leave, but she changed her mind and stuck her head through the door one more time.

"Well you shoulda outta got married first." she said running when she saw her Daddy make a move towards her.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Gibbs caught up with Maddie in record time and stopped her.

"That was rude Maddie and none of your business."

"But..."

"But nothing...upstairs." Gibbs said with a smack. Maddie rubbed the sting out of her bottom and ran up the stairs crying.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

No one knew quite what to say as Amber clutched her tummy with one hand while she brushed away tears with the other. This time it wasn't because she was in pain.

"Ohhh Honey I'm so sorry." Kim said.

"Sok." Amber said sadly.

"She's only little." Jimmy said. "She didn't mean it."

"She's rigghhhhht." Amber wailed. "We should be married." Jimmy scratched his head while he tried to think of the right answer.

"Amber sweetie...you said you didn't want to get married until after the baby. You said you didn't want to wear a wedding dress while you were pregnant." Amber cried harder and then clutched her tummy for real as a wave of pain squeezed her tight, sucking away her breath. When the contraction subsided she looked up at Jimmy with her eyes filled with tears.

"I changed my mind." she sobbed.

"Huh?..."Jimmy asked. "Um...Amber...I don't think.."

"You don't wanna marry me anymore?" Jimmy bent down and took her hands in his.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Maddie and Jess sat on the stairs. They couldn't help but overhear some of the conversation. Jess took Maddie's hand as a tear rolled down her face.

"I didn't mean to make Amber cry." she said. Jess nodded.

"She could be cryin cos her tummy hurts."she said helpfully.

"It's her back that hurts."

"Then why's she keep hangin on to her tummy?" Maddie shrugged. Seemed like an awful lot of trouble to get baby.

"Mommy should give her some medicine to make it go away." Maddie nodded but her mind was going to more in depth places.

"I still can't see how it's gonna get out of there."she said curiously.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Of course I do...but I don't know how much time we have...that's all." Jimmy insisted.

"You will need a license." Ziva said. Amber clutched her belly again just as Gibbs walked through the door. He looked at Ducky.

"I'm afraid this is a discussion that is going to have to take place at the hospital." Ducky said. Amber breathed out a slow breath.

"We have a license." she puffed out. Jimmy opened his wallet and produced the document. They had gotten the license a month or so ago when Amber thought they should elope. But she changed her mind, not wanting to wear a bridal gown until she'd lost the baby weight. Amber suddenly burst into tears.

"Amber?" Jimmy asked, sheer panic coursing through his veins like lava from a newly erupted volcano.

"I don't... wanna... be that sort of Mommy."

"Huh?" Tony said.

"Ok..." Jimmy really didn't wanna say that he didn't understand. He'd learned to weigh his words...or if in total doubt just leave them out altogether. He looked at the other girls hoping they could help...Abby and Ziva weren't really sure what to say either.

Ziva decided the best way she could help would be to rustle up a make shift bag.

"Abby do you mind if I make a bag...?" Abby gave her a push.

"You know you don't have to ask hon..." Ziva smiled and disappeared upstairs.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

As Ziva stepped into Abby and Tim's bedroom she found two little girls perched on the bed sharing a big book with puzzled expressions. Ziva's gut twisted as she recognised the cover of the book. She just hoped they hadn't gotten very far into it. She made a dive and swept up the book, preventing them from going any further.

"I do not think your Mommies would want you to read this book." she said. "What did you see?"

Maddie shrugged. "A lady with a big tummy like Amber...and a baby."

"Oh."

"Nuffin much." Maddie said quickly. She really wasn't ready to talk about THAT yet, she'd have to think bout it first.

"Good. You should go and play." Ziva said as she hurriedly gathered the things that she thought Amber might need.

The girls walked into Jess' room and shut the door behind them. Neither said anything for a minute.

"Can you believe that that baby is gonna push it's head out of her giney?" Maddie asked incredulously. Jess shook her head with her eyes popping.

"No wonder she was cryin so bad."

"Uhhuh...I knew it wasn't me who maded her cry."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Kim came to Jimmy's rescue. She put her arm around him and gave him a discrete pinch on the back of his neck.

"You're gonna be a great Mommy." she said to Amber. "Isn't she Jimmy?". Jimmy agreed rapidly.

"Of course you are honey.." he placated his distressed wife, if somewhat belatedly.

"I mean the ….the sort of Mommy that cares...more what she looks like than what's important..."Amber sobbed.

Amber's tears abated suddenly and her eyes sprung wide open as her body was rocked by the strongest contraction she had had yet.

"Um...we better go." she said when it finally petered out. Jimmy smiled nervously, glad that she was seeing sense.

"There'll be time to do it Amber…...right after the baby." he said. Amber punched him.

"We're still doing it...we'll do it at the hospital."

Abby jumped up and down excitedly.

"Yay! A wedding..." she let the sentence dwindle in mid air as her mind caught up with her enthusiasm. A wedding now...how were they gonna prepare for that? Better get moving. "I'll call the hospital on the way see if they have a priest or some sort of clergy man there. They must have something..And we'll get flowers... and we have songs...mmmmm...Dixie Chicks... possible...of course they might have to wait for the actual reception..."

"Slow down Abby." Tim said with a frown and a discrete nod towards hapless would be groom. Perhaps Jimmy didn't want to be barrelled into a shot gun wedding at his baby's birth. Abby folded her arms and pouted. She hated being stopped when she was on a roll.

"It's ok Tim." Jimmy said. "I DO want to get married...I'd LOVE to get married, I just don't know how we'd get things done...how we'd do this." he said pointing to Amber... "and this..." he said holding up the license, and all before the baby comes. They were all walking Amber towards the car with Ziva chasing behind with the bag.

"See Tim...it's what they want...You make sure the kids all look ok and then you and Tony and Gibbs bring them to the hospital..." As Amber and Jimmy drove off at a hasty pace with Ducky in the back seat beside Amber, the girls all filed into Tony's car. As they drove off, Kim stuck her head out of the window.

"Jethro bring flowers." she yelled.

"What kind of flowers?" He asked into mid air. They were gone. He looked forlornly at what was left of the McGee's front yard. Perhaps it hadn't been the best idea to have the kids weed the garden.

Maybe they could resurrect...nah. He'd have to stop and buy some. Shrugging he went looking for his keys. Truth was he'd rather buy flowers than wrestle Maddie into something to wear.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Hi..." Abby said into the phone. "I'm gonna skip right to the point here cos there's no time to waste on the usual unnecessary phone niceties. I mean I will appreciate your help and all...well I will if you help me..."

"Abby I think you need to get to the point." Ziva said nudging her.

"Oh yeah...we need a priest...or a reverend or a chaplain...basically someone that can marry a couple who are gonna have a baby REALLY soon."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Deep breaths my dear. Deep breaths."

"You ok hon? Does it hurt?"Jimmy asked gently. Amber blew out a deep breath as the contraction waned and then shot Jimmy a filthy look.

"You know when you stuck your finger in the door?"

"Uhhuh."

"Multiply that by about a million and you may be close." Jimmy winced.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Tony herded the boys downstairs after checking they were clean, while Tim checked on the girls. He had left them to put on clean clothes of Jess' that he had laid out, but those clothes were not what they were wearing when he found them. Tim ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. Abby had said to make sure they looked ok. Well...they kind of looked ok. It wasn't like they were going to let them into the labour ward anyway was it? In his mind he weighed up his choices...fix them up and be late or take them to the hospital like they were and risk not being there for the wedding and the a heavy sigh he gave them both a gentle push.

"We are gonna have words girls about following instructions."

"But these dresses are prettier than the other dumb clothes. I didn't wanna wear that dress to the wedding." Maddie said. Tim looked skyward. Please don't let her start...

"Girls, I'm sorry but you kids won't be at the actual ceremony." he tried to explain. Jess' face fell and Maddie's hands flew to her hips.

"That's not fair!" she wailed. Jess eyes filled with tears and her lip started to wobble.

"I wanna go to the wedding Daddy." she whispered. Tim took her hand and tried to take Maddie's but she put hers firmly behind her back.

"Look Maddie, we don't have time for this. I'll explain later why you can't be at the wedding but right now you have to go get in the car."

"No." Maddie said. Jess tried to grab hold of the satin gown and encourage her friend but she was not budging.

"Go to the car sweetie." Tim said and Jess started walking sadly down the stairs. Tim shook his head before scooping Maddie up and following behind his daughter.

"Let me go!" Maddie yelled.

"Hush." Tim said. "Before I really give you something to cry for.".

"What's keepin ya Tim?" Tony yelled just before the three came down the stairs. When he caught sight of the girls there was no need for explanations."Oh...Kim and Abby are NOT gonna be thrilled with that." he said at the sight of the girls in their dresses.

"I know but they'd be even less thrilled with us being late."

They were nearly about to start the car when Tim's phone rang.

"Really Abs?" he asked. "Ok...ok...I'll get it." he said before hanging up. "Don't ask." he said in answer to Tony's questioning look before jumping out of the car and heading back into the house.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

At the hospital Amber was taken into a birthing room. It was like a labour room but more homey. A wooden cradle waited in the corner for the baby instead of a regular hospital crib. There were softer furnishings and it had more of the air of a better quality hotel room than a sterile hospital environment. In this room you could have whoever you wanted to witness the birth, but no children...

xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Abby, Ziva and Kim had found their way to the hospital chapel and were talking to the clergyman who had agreed to help them...after he had seen to his urgent cases. To Abby that was a YES.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Gibbs was driving to the hospital with a back seat full of assorted flowers. He had no idea what to pick so he had gone with a more miscellaneous feel. Should match them all perfectly, he thought.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"I wanna go to the weddin." Maddie said for the umpteenth time with her arms folded and her face in a pout that seemed to have settled on her face permanently. Maybe the wind had changed, Tony thought.

"Kids aren't allowed in hospital rooms when a baby is being born." Tim said.

"Why not?" Maddie asked. "I wanna go."

"That's the rule."

"I think it's a dumb rule."

"Too bad would wanna go in there anyway?" Kyle said incredulously.

"Enough." Tony said. This conversation was very quickly heading down hill to a place he didn't wanna go with a pair of seven year olds... Too late.

"You just don't wanna let us see the baby fall outta Amber's giney." Maddie said.

Tony spat the coke he was sipping all over the windscreen while Tim nearly drove right off the road.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Six centimetres." The midwife announced with a smile. Amber's face was crestfallen.

"Is that all?" she panted. "All...that ...pain..."

"It all takes time and patience...you don't just get a baby for free."

"And it'll give the others more time to organise the wedding." Jimmy said helpfully. Amber glared at him.

"We're having a wedding? That IS exciting." The midwife said.

"I know it's a little unusual." Jimmy said.

"Not as unusual as you think."

"So how long do you think we're looking at here?" The midwife shrugged.

"As long as the baby needs."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Gibbs arrived at the hospital to find the girls waiting out front. He parked the car and then staggered over to them ladened down with flowers.

"Where are the others and the kids?" Kim asked.

"They're not here yet?"

"No they're not." Kim said.

"You don't think they could have had an accident?" Abby said. She was really starting to stress.

"Nah Abs, I'm sure they're fine." Just as he said it, the van Tim had rented to get the family around in the day before pulled into the parking lot.

Abby clapped her hands excitedly... until they all filed out. Then she narrowed her eyes. Ziva smirked behind her hand at the sight of the motley crew that were descending on them. Kim looked disappointed but not surprised.

Tony and Tim although smartly dressed, were looking decidedly harried. The three young boys also dressed nicely, were smirking as they switched looking between Abby and Kim and the girls. Maddie was looking grumpy and Jess was looking nervous...both were wearing identical Snow White dresses. Gibbs did his best to look unimpressed but it proved to be almost impossible...

"I think you boys may have lost about eleven of your dwarfs." He said dryly.

"Really Tim?" Abby said.

"Abs it was that or us all being even later than we are now." After thinking for a split second she smiled. He was right. At least they were there.

"Did you bring it?"

"Yes Abby I brought it." Tim said handing over the plastic bag with a smile.

"Yay!" she said.

"So it's going ahead then?" he asked without taking his eyes off his wife.

"Yep, he said he'd help us."

"Abby, he said AFTER he'd dealt with his URGENT cases." Ziva said.

"Hmm. Yes well it'll happen." Abby said brightly.

"Ok. Just don't get Amber's hopes up just in case." Tim said.

"It's gonna happen Timmy I swear."

"Uhhuh." Tim said. "Be careful...I mean it."

"Mommy THEY said we can't go to the wedding!" Maddie whined with her finger pointing at Tony and Tim.

"Don't be rude Maddie. Uncle Tony and Uncle Tim are right...I'm sure that Amber and Jimmy would have loved to have you at their wedding but...you're not allowed to go in to where the baby is going to be born."

"Why not!"

"Because you can't."

"No fair." Maddie grumbled.

"Enough!" Gibbs said with a pointed look. Jess took Maddie's hand. She really didn't think it was a good idea to upset Gibbs.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Jimmy, Amber and Ducky all looked up as the door swung open and Abby, Ziva and Kim all filed in with a beaming head nurse behind them.

"Lets get this thing happening." Abby said enthusiastically. "We had flowers but they won't let us bring them all in here. Or the kids...well I guess you might not be up to a room full of kids anyway."

"The good news is that the wedding will go ahead." Kim and Ziva both stared at Abby. That was careful? They both thought, but neither of them wanted to be the one to rain on Amber's parade.

Amber sagged with relief. "I don't care about flowers."

"How you doin honey?" Kim asked as she brushed the hair away that was stuck to her damp forehead.

"Tired..it hurts so bad..." Jimmy attempted to rub her back. "Don't touch me Jimmy." she said irritably.

"I was just..." Kim gave him a sympathetic look while Amber clutched her hand tightly with the next wave of pain.

"Back...back..." she panted at Jimmy.

"But you said..."

"Rub...my...back..." Jimmy did what she asked. He would have robbed a bank if she asked him at this stage. The pain passed and Amber looked a little more relaxed.

"Amber I need to go to the bathroom." Jimmy said in a whisper, afraid of the repercussions...he almost ducked.

"That's fine Jimmy, you go." he almost made it away from the bed when he suddenly found his shirt and good portion of the skin from his back in Ambers vice like grip.

"Ah ah ah!" he squawked while he tried to wriggle away.

Abby and Ziva stood side by side watching the horrific scene before them. Both imagining the tables being turned and each of them them lying in the bed.

"You know this might just be the time for some soothing Dixie chics." Abby said.

"Yes yes...Lullaby." Amber panted. "Bathroom...Jimmy. Sorry." Jimmy looked on nervously, he wasn't really sure if she was serious. "I'm ok." He almost jumped out of her reach before turning to decipher the look on her face. After determining that it was in fact safe to go he kissed her gently and then got out of the door quickly while the going was good. Jimmy rushed through the door and nearly fell over the rest of the family and the flowers. He gave them a quick wave and darted towards the rest room.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Mr...?" The head duty nurse asked.

"Gibbs. Just Gibbs."

"Well ...Gibbs. I'm sorry, but you can't keep those flowers there." Gibbs looked at her blankly.

"Any suggestions?" he asked "With what I might do with them?" The nurse looked from him to the bunch of kids and then to the pile of flowers.

"Geriatrics." she finally said. "Those elderly patients would just eat up those little cherubs." she said looking longingly at Jess and Maddie. "They look like a pair of little angels...And you three young gentlemen are very handsome."

Tim and Tony looked at their kids and then at each other. Nope. They didn't see any angels...or gentlemen.

"What's geriatrics?" Jess asked.

"Old people." Michael said. Maddie's face was a picture.

"OLD people!" she said with disappointment. Old people didn't smell so good and they weren't a wedding that's for sure.

"You know honey, some old people never have anyone to visit them, they would just love it if you spent five minutes and gave them a couple of flowers." the nurse said. Maddie didn't look convinced, but Gibbs was already picking up the flowers. It was as good an idea as he could come up with.

"I'm not gonna be missing this wedding and the baby though am I?" he checked. He knew Kim wouldn't be happy if he wasn't on hand when the time came.

"Just let me make a call." she said. After a couple of minutes she hung up. The hospital Chaplain won't be down here for half an hour. So if your quick..."

"We will be." Gibbs said. "Come on." Tony and Tim helped him to gather the flowers and they waited for the boys to join them.

"Do we have to?" Dyl asked at his Dad's questioning look.

"Yep." Gibbs answered for him. "We're all doin it." The boys all trudged behind with bored expressions while Jess hung on to her Daddy's shirt. She was a little nervous about being taken to these old people and she didn't wanna be ated up. She was stickin by her Daddy. He wouldn't let anyone take a bite of her. Not even sad old old people with no visitors.

Maddie wandered behind the boys. Her Daddy had dropped a couple of flowers so she picked them up and carried them like a bouquet. She could pretend she was a bridesmaid...nah...if she was pretending she may as well be the bride.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Jimmy came out of the bathroom and everyone seemed to be gone. He was almost back in the room when he spied a snack machine. Who knew when he'd be able to eat again. He rattled through his pockets and dumped some money into the machine and punched in the number. When his Mars bar came out he quickly unwrapped it and shoved it in his mouth in a couple of large bites.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Jimmy!" Amber cried. "You took too long"

"Sorry..." he said sheepishly.

"Quick..." Amber said as her contraction started to build. Jimmy hotfooted it over to her side. He felt terrible. She was obviously exhausted.

"Why don't you try climbing up on the bed behind Amber. That way she can lean on you and you can massage her shoulders..." Jimmy didn't have to be told twice. Grateful that he was being given a concrete job finally he climbed up behind his fiance and massaged her shoulders while whispering how brave she was into her ear. When he felt her tense, he assumed it was because of the pain from the contraction but as she blew out the final breath she turned.

"You've been eating chocolate!" she accused.

"Um..."

"I want chocolate.!" Amber blurted.

"Urgghh. Amber I'm sorry. I just needed a little bite...low blood sugar."

"LOW BLOOD SUGAR? My blood sugar is...is...is GONE...I want CHOCOLATE."

"Not gonna happen honey." the midwife said stepping in to avoid bloodshed. "After the baby your new husband can get you chocolate. Right now he can't." Amber wasn't happy but her protest died on her lips as it all started again. Once again she leaned into Jimmy absorbing his comfort and support. The chocolate was long forgotten.

Abby and Ziva decided to see what was happening with the Padre. There didn't seem to be much time left here.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

The men split the kids and the flowers and set about handing them out to the elderly patients. Tony and the twins took a women's ward and the twins proved to be every bit as charming as their Dad. Each one smiling and kissing each old lady on the cheek. Neither could remember having a grandma and they were soaking up all the compliments and the obvious delight that the old people were experiencing from their brief visit.

Grumpy Gibbs was no where to be seen as he handed out his flowers in another ward of women. Even Maddie enjoyed all the crooning and compliments as she handed out the her flowers. It was bit like being a flower girl... not as good as a wedding...but better than sitting in a hallway.

Tim walked into the men's ward with Dyl and with Jess joined onto the back of his shirt still. After passing Dyl some flowers and suggesting where he should go with them, he gently pulled Jess out from behind him and walked over to an old man with some flowers in one hand a Jess's hand in his other.

"Well well well what do we have here?" the man said.

"We thought you might like to have a couple of visitors." Tim said with a smile.

The man smiled back. "I always love visitors but I don't think I've never had a visit from an actual Princess.

"I'm not really a princess." Jess said with a shy smile.

"You sure? Your the closest thing to a Princess I've seen since my granddaughter was a little thing like you." Tim smiled proudly.

"What do you say to the nice gentleman Jess?"

"Thank you." Jess said with a smile. She took a flower from her Daddy and passed it to her new friend. Old people weren't scary at all.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

When they arrived back at the birthing centre it was perfect timing. The clergyman had arrived and Ziva and Abby were very antsy. Apparently the birth was progressing at a very fast pace and there was no time to lose if the young couple were to be married before their baby made it's appearance. Tim and Tony herded the children into a waiting room a little way down the hall where there was a gaming system and a television and DVD player. One of the young nurses promised to keep an eye on them.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Ahhh geez." Gibbs said as he entered the room. A flustered Jimmy was was firmly planted behind Amber on the bed. Amber herself looked pale and exhausted. Her head was saturated and her hospital gown covered nothing that it should have as she panted desperately through another contraction. Gibbs was ready to turn and flee and if it hadn't have been for the look his wife gave him and the fact that Tony and Tim were on his heels, he may have done just that. The Padre seemed to have settled himself up the other end of the bed where he actually had somewhere to look that didn't seem indecent or wrong so that's where Gibbs headed with Tony and Tim right behind him.

"Right." The man of the cloth said as soon as the contraction finished. "I think this calls for the abridged version. "Do you take this woman..."

"WAIT!" Abby yelled.

"ABBYYYYY!" everyone else yelled back.

"This is important...it's good luck...I almost forgot." She opened the bag and produced the veil from her wedding. "Something borrowed." she said. Amber was beyond caring at this point and allowed Abby to pin it to the top of her messy hair.

"She's wearing something old." The midwife said looking at her hospital gown. Ziva produced a pair of blue booties from the bag.

"Something blue." she said. Amber smiled and took the tiny pair of baby socks and placed them beside her. Kim looked around desperately for something new.

"We need something new." she said. Before they could find the something new another contraction took over.

"If you don't get a move on, something new is about to watch it's parents get married." Ducky said.

"Wait wait. I have something new." Tony said. He dug in his pocket and produced a candy bar he'd bought from the machine.

"Yay!" Abby said. "Now we're ready."

"I have to push!" Amber grunted.

"Not yet!" everyone in the room yelled. Even the midwife.

"Do you take this woman..."

"Yep yep." Jimmy said rapidly.

"Do you take this man..." Amber nodded and tried to pant at the same time but the urge to push was overwhelming.

"Words...I have to hear the words."

"Yeeeessssss." Amber said with a final growl. She pushed with all her might, no longer able to hold back.

"And we have a head." the midwife said. "And we have red hair..."

"Awwwww..." was the collective cry.

"With the powere vested in me...I now pronounce you man and wife."

When the next contraction started Amber pushed a little allowing the midwife to release first one shoulder and then the other.

"Nearly there honey. Next contraction should just about do it." She smiled at Jimmy. Would you like to do the honours?" Jimmy beamed. He climbed off the bed and Kim took his place. The midwife stood and Jimmy sat on the stool while the midwife stayed very close by. As the contraction started to build she encouraged Amber gently to push again.

So with her borrowed veil perched on top of her damp head, her blue booties beside her on the bed, her old hospital gown all crooked and wrinkled and a new candy bar melting in her hand, Amber pushed her baby out into the world. There was no indecision or dithering as Jimmy gently helped his child through the last stages of his journey.

"It's a boy!" he choked out happily to his wife...and everyone else in the room. He clamped and cut the cord under the midwife's instruction and then handed his squalling and shivering baby over to the lady who had done all the work. His wife. He had never been more proud.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

I hear a baby cryin." Maddie said.

"Me too." Jess said. "Do you think it's Amber's baby?" They both ran out of the room and towards the room all the adults had disappeared in to.

"Whoa." the nurse on the desk said. "You know you can't go in there."

"But we wanna see the baby." they both said at once.

"Soon they might bring him out so you can have a look." she said.

"It's a dumb boy?" Maddie said. Oh this one's a keeper, the nurse thought.

"Yes and he's wait and see. Go back to the waiting room and I'll see what I can do."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The birthing room was filled voices, laughter and tears, the nurse had to cough loudly a few times to be heard.

"I just thought you'd like to know that the natives are restless." she said.

"Ahhh." The midwife said. "I tell you what. Now that this young man has been weighed and dressed, why don't you take him out for a really brief visit. It'll give me a chance to patch your wife up without such a large audience." Amber smiled gratefully. There was nothing that she would like more than to get on some of her own things. She wasn't very keen on her baby being out of her sight though.

"Don't be long Jimmy." she said.

"I won't." he said. He grinned and held the baby down for a kiss from his Mommy. Then after kissing his wife himself he followed the others out into the hall.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"Have you kids been behaving?" Gibbs asked.

"Yes." they all answered. "Good." Then I think Uncle Jimmy might have a special someone he'd like you to meet. But no touching." he warned. The girls nodded seriously.

Jimmy walked into the small room carrying his new baby son.

"Wow...he's tiny." Kyle said.

"He sure is." Dyl said.

"Does he have a name?" Michael asked.

"No not yet." Jimmy answered with a grin that seemed to be permanently etched onto his face. "We want his name to be perfect for him."

Look at his little tiny fingers." Jess squeaked. She thought he was adorable. Just like a real baby doll.

"He's cute...but...um... why is his hair ORANGE?" Maddie asked.

TBC


	117. Chapter 117

I would like to thank everyone for all the reviews and alerts throughout the journey of this story. I'm sad to say, that although I will miss these people ...a lot, Princess McGee has wound itself down to it's natural end. I hope you all have enjoyed the journey as much as I have and I hope you enjoy this last chapter.

Thankyou to Maudlin Muse who has worked with me on this for a long while now. I appreciate her help and advice more than she will ever know.

Lastly, prayers and positive thoughts would mean a lot to me for my son who flew out to Afghanistan yesterday.

Chapter 117

Jess and Maddie...and Abby, Ziva and Kim if the truth be known...were beside themselves with excitement. Amber and Jimmy were finally back from their trip down south with Amber's family. Tomorrow it would be the first Sunday lunch that they had all been able to have with the baby.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Abby looked intently into the full length mirror at her naked form. Her hand smoothed gently over her slight bump. She turned sideways and then the other way while she examined her once flat tummy. Her forehead crinkled into a frown as she caught sight of her slightly larger bottom. To a less critical eye, there would have been barely a difference but to Abby the difference in her once lithe form was considerable. She smiled as Tim came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.

"Still gonna love me when I'm the side of a barn?" she asked. "Ouch!" Her barn like very fair backside was now sporting a distinct red hand print.

"You are NOT any bigger and even if you were...well like the side of a barn, there'd just be more of you to love." Tim said trailing kisses down the side of her neck.

He in fact loved Abs new curves. His hands slid silkily over her now larger breasts, his fingers teasing the nipples that had hardened into taut peaks as he nibbled on his favourite spot...her spider web. Their spider web. She was such a part of him now, he didn't know what he would ever do without her. His hands joined hers to settle on the place where their new baby was growing...but not for long. Abby turned in his arms, all thoughts of her critical appraisal forgotten, replaced with more carnal desires.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Jess held one of her babies as she rocked in her chair. Finally tomorrow she and Maddie would get a proper turn of Jack. She'd never held a real baby until Jack. He was so cute and small and soft. Jess loved how he smelled. Soon her own Momma was gonna have a baby that baby would live in her house all the time. She couldn't wait for that or for tomorrow. She hoped Amber would let her hold him...Jess gently put her baby into it's cradle and sat on the floor while she settled it off to sleep, just as Amber had done when they visited her.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Maddie looked longingly at her baby doll as well. Her Mommy had bought both her and Jess one after Jack was born. She knew her Mommy was trying to make up for the fact she didn't have a baby in her tummy but well it was nice...but it wasn't a real baby. She couldn't wait for tomorrow to have a turn of a real one. She'd been practising with this one and she knew now how to take care of a baby. She was REAL careful with this baby, even if it was plastic... and she didn't draw make up on it's face or nuffin. Her Daddy had smacked her bottom for drawing on her dolls faces but she was just playin pageants...they had to have makeup didn't they? She sighed. She used to like being in pageants...She hugged her baby doll tightly to her breast...well not really...she didn't have any like Amber but it was a plastic baby so it didn't need real ones anyway.

Xoxoxoxoxoxox

The next morning Jess dressed for church and went to find her Mommy brush in hand.

"Mommmy?" she called. "Mommy I need you."

Abby was filled with unexpected emotion at the simple question. It took a lot for her to keep the tears at bay, such was the love she felt for this little girl. She had come so far since she had entered this house attached to Timmy's side. Not much smiling then and even less trust. In fact she hadn't taken to Abby at all at first, but all that had changed now.

Jess's face lit up when she found her Mommy already dressed for church.

"Need me to do your hair?" Abs asked.

"Uhhuh. " Jess said excitedly. "I wanna get to church so's we can get home and see the baby."

"Me too." Abby said as she turned her daughter and started running the brush down her long blonde hair, gently easing out the knots. "He is just sooo cute."

"I love his red hair." Jess said bouncing around. "And his teeny tiny fingers." Abby chased Jess's moving head...she understood the whole not being able to keep still while excited thing.

"Just one thing hon, you do know that you can't really play with Jack don't you...Amber will let you hold him I'm sure, but you won't pick him up without an adult or anything will you?" Jess's face suddenly fell.

"Mommy I would never do that." She was hurt that her Mommy would even think anything like that. Abby gave Jess a reassuring hug.

"I knew you wouldn't but I just had to make sure." she said. "Sometimes Maddie gets..."

"I'm not Maddie Mommy." Jess said quietly. Jess loved Maddie but she wasn't a baby...she knew what was dangerous. "Anyway Maddie wouldn't do that either." Jess wasn't entirely certain of that but she wouldn't anyway.

"I know you're not." Abby said. "Have I told you today how much I love you Jess?"

"Not yet." Jess said with a toothless grin.

"Well I do. I love you very much."

"I love you more."

"Impossible." Abby said as she bent down and gave Jess an enormous hug.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

It was lunch time and most of the family had conglomerated in the backyard. The smell of onions sizzling on the grill wafted into the house and even towards the front door.

"Smells good." Jimmy said with a smile.

"Sure does." Amber said mirroring her husband's grin. They had been away and showed off little Jack to the relatives. They had explained...and explained again and again why they had chosen to be married without their families. In the end they had agreed to a reception of sorts to appease the hurt they had inflicted unknowingly on their families. It had been hard to explain how it had just 'happened'. Anyway, the arrival of the new redheaded charmer had gone a long way to restoring the status quo and by the time they had left all was well. But now...now...they were home.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxxoxoxo

At the sound of the doorbell the girls tore out of Jess's room screeching all the way to the front door. "They're here...they're here...they're here..." The boys ambled out into the hallway and nearly got knocked to the ground in the rush.

"Girls girls..." Tim said as he opened the door. "Give them some room... can I take him?" he asked the amused young couple. "Who's a big boy then..." Tim said into the sleeping babies face.

"Daddy sharrrrreeee." Jess pleaded while Maddie folded her arms in disgust.

"We been waiting forever!" she said.

"You'll have to wait a little long Mads." Jimmy said. "Jack is sleeping...hey boys." He said to the three that just arrived downstairs to greet them.

"I won't wake him." Maddie pleaded.

"No honey." Amber said. He needs to sleep without being held. Amber had read all the baby books and was determined to start off the right way. This was also a hint to Tim that she wanted her baby put down. Jimmy pushed the stroller into the family room and put on the brake.

"Please Amber?" Jess begged. "Just a little hold?" Amber shook her head.

"That's no fair! You let Uncle Timmy!" Maddie whined.

"I was just carrying him in girls. I'm going to put him down and you two need to go play." Tim lowered the baby into his stroller. "We'll come get you as soon as he's awake." Tim said.

"Promise Uncle Timmy?" Maddie asked.

"Promise." The two girls ran up the stairs to continue their game. The boys had already gone. A sleeping baby was even more dull than an awake one as far as they were concerned.

"They're here...they're here..." Abby squealed from the doorway. All three women rushed into the room. "Gimme gimme gimme."

"The baby's asleep Abs. He has to stay in the stroller." Tim said pointedly. Abby stopped in her tracks...oh well she could wait. She bounded over and hugged the pair tightly.

"You look GREAT!" Abby said.

"How did you lose all the baby weight so quickly?" Ziva asked. Amber shrugged.

"Breast feeding maybe? Dunno... I've been eating like a horse." Kim sighed. It had taken her months to lose all the baby weight.

Jimmy smiled proudly at his sleeping son. Gibbs clapped him on the back. "You did good Jimmy. He's beautiful."

"Thank you." Jimmy said with an ever widening smile.

"Ok everyone. Let's let the new prince have his nap." Amber said. We'll hear him from just out there." she said. "And all the kids are upstairs."

Jimmy reluctantly followed the others outside. It was true while they were in vacation they had left the baby not in the same room, but...well there were no kids there. Still, he didn't want a spoiled baby and Amber said, well that it was the way to do things.

"Jimmy? Basketball?" Tony called. After a brief look to the doorway he looked at Amber.

"Go Jimmy. Play...I'll hear him." she said.

"Ok. If you're sure."

"I'm sure." She said.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Jess rocked her baby doll gently for a little while and then put it back down again. It just wasn't the same as a real baby.

"They don't understand Jess." Maddie said. "I KNOW how to take care of a baby. So do you..."

Jess nodded. "She would NEVER hurt Jack. She knew how to be gentle."

"I know. I just wanted to hold him. They just wanna keep him all to themselves." Jess agreed." Maddie suddenly dropped her attitude and grinned.

"We should SHOW em Jess...we should show em we can take care of a baby." Maddie said enthusiastically. Jess went very quiet. She could feel one of Maddie's good ideas coming on. One of those ones that always got them in trouble.

"Um...I don't know Maddie..."

"WHY Jess? You know we could do it... he's just stuck in that pram. They wouldn't even know until we bring him back all happy...then they'd say how clever we were and how we'd be the best babysitters ever." Jess sighed. Jess closed her eyes and imagined what would happen when they got back and it wasn't everyone being happy. Not at all... And what if something happened to baby Jack...

"No Maddie...it's NOT a good idea." Jess said quietly.

"Awww come onnn Jess. Please? I promise...it'll be fun ...and we'll have him all to ourselves...no mean adults to tell us what to do and all." Jess shook her head.

"Naha Maddie. That'd be real bad and …...I don't wanna."

"Don't be a baby Jess."

"I'm not...you are." Jess was getting mad now. She hated when Maddie called her a baby. She knew she was just tryin to make her do what she wanted..

"Alright then. You stay here and play with your baby doll and I'm gonna take a REAL baby for a walk in the stroller."

"You can't Maddie." Jess said. "Something might happen to Jack." Maddie rolled her eyes as she walked out the door.

"Nothin's gonna happen cept I'm taking Jack for a walk to the park."

"Jimmy and Amber'll be real mad at you...and so will your Mommy and Daddy ….and my Mommy and Daddy and ….well and EVERYBODY."

Maddie didn't say another word, she just walked quietly down to the family room. She peaked into the kitchen first to see that no one was coming and then she took off the brake and wheeled the stroller quietly out the front door.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Jess sat in her room for about ten minutes waiting for Maddie to come back. She was sure she wouldn't do it. Or someone would catch her. She was probably standing in the corner with a sore bottom right now. Jess decided to have a look, she was worried about her friend even of she had been mean to her.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxozoxoxox

Outside, Gibbs and Ducky manned the BBQ and the boys all played basketball, just like old times. The girls all sat and chatted.

"Jimmy is such a worrier." Amber said. "He hovers something awful. I can't seem to make him see that babies are not made of glass."

"He's such a good little thing." Kim said. "Does he always sleep as well as that?"

"Yeah, he's a great sleeper. Sometimes we even get six hours at night." Abby and Ziva looked at each other.

"Six hours is good?" Abby asked.

"Six hours for a newborn is great." Kim said. Ziva went white...that was one baby. She was expecting two...would she ever get any sleep?" she thought. Even Abby was feeling a little worried. She supposed there'd be no caf pow still while you were breastfeeding as well.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Maddie reached the park and walked towards a pavilion. See... she knewd that babies had to be outta the sun. Once she settled the stroller she undid Zac's wrap and lifted him out of the pram...

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Jess crept down the stairs and her eyes went immediately to the place where the stroller had been left with the baby sleeping inside. It was gone. Maybe it was outside with the grown ups, she thought. She walked through the kitchen with her heart in her mouth. If the stroller wasn't there she would have to tell...It wasn't. Jess burst into tears. She hated that she had to tattle on her friend. She hated even worse what Maddie had done.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Abby looked up to find Jess standing next to her...her face awash with silent tears.

"Jess? What's wrong honey?" Abby asked as she gathered her daughter on to her lap.

"It's...um..." Jess continued to cry quietly into her Mommy's neck.

"Jess tell me." Abby said.

"Did you and Maddie have a fight?" Kim asked. Jess nodded. Kim stood to go and see her daughter.

"But...um...she tooked the baby to the park." Jess howled into Abby's neck and clung on for grim death.

Amber went white with fear and dread but she was on her feet in a second. She had to get to her baby. Kim shouted to both Gibbs and Jimmy and within a few moments all the adults except Abby were tearing towards the park. It was a very mismatched bunch that hurried down the street. Jimmy lead the pack at a pace none of the others thought possible. Tony, Tim, Gibbs and Ziva were not far behind with a distraught Amber running after them carrying her heels. Kim couldn't keep up and she was walking last with Ducky, although it was more of a power walk than a dawdle.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Baby Jack started to cry as he he was lifted from the safety and warmth of his stroller. He could feel the difference between the firm hold and gentle crooning of his parents and the rather brash shushing and nervous jiggling of this smaller person. Maddie had bitten off more than she could chew and she wanted this baby to stop crying...now. It was makin her feel bad. She was takin care of him wasn't she? In desperation she put him back in the stroller. Maybe he liked it in there. Nope.

Jack just screamed louder and his tiny limbs flailed about, desperately seeking the loving arms that would make him feel safe, the sweet warm nectar from his Mommy's breast.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Shh Jess." Abby crooned gently. "It's ok. Maddie won't be mad at you."

"Don't care if she is...I don't want nuffin to happen to Jack." Jess cried. "She shouldn't have tooked him."

"No she shouldn't. But he'll be fine." Abby sure hoped that was true.

Suddenly three boys appeared in the doorway. "Where is everyone?" Kyle asked.

"We're starving." Dyl said.

"They went after Maddie." Abby said.

"What she do this time?" Mike asked.

"She tooked Jack to the park." Three mouths dropped open. That was over the top even for Maddie.

"What she do that for Jess?" Dyl asked.

"Cos she wanted to show everyone that she could look after a baby."

"You knew she was gonna do this Jess?" Abby asked. Jess nodded.

"She said it but I didn't think she would do it. I thought she was just sayin it." She started to sob all over again.

"It's ok Jess." Abby said. "You came and told us as soon as you knew she was gone. That's what counts. You really are growing up. I'm proud of you."

"Wow...she really is a dumb ass." Kyle said. Abby frowned at him but didn't really have the heart to scold. He'd hit the nail on the head.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Maddie pushed the stroller backwards and forwards as she tried to calm the squalling baby. A teensy part of her kind of hoped that Jess had told. The rest of her was determined to see this through. She stopped rocking and started to sing, finally adding a dance when that didn't help. Little Jack though seemed oblivious to her talents and just cried harder.

"Come onnnn you dumb baby." she said finally allowing the frustration to find a voice.

Unfortunately for her it was the exact moment that Jimmy arrived. He leapt into the pavilion and scooped up his hysterical son cradling him to his shoulder while he patted and soothed. The baby was beyond Daddy comfort though and continued to wail loudly. The others were not far behind and as they piled into the small enclosure all eyes were on Jack ensuring that he had escaped unscathed. His eyes filled with tears, Jimmy passed Jack over to his Mommy who acted on instinct. She immediately sat and bared her breast and latched the baby on while she rocked and shushed him gently. Kim gathered his blanket and tucked it around him. Ducky stood nearby eager to help if needed but Jack finally started to suck, every now and again stopping to offer a sob of protest at his ordeal.

"Eww...Isn't it a bit nasty to do that in the park?" Maddie asked innocently. All eyes turned to the instigator of THIS afternoon's trouble. Tony whispered to Tim...

"Oh this should be good."

"Uhhuh." Tim nodded. "For once it wasn't his McBrats." Jimmy's jaw dropped and he took a step towards Maddie but then stopped and looked towards her parents, asking the silent question. Both nodded.

"Maddie took your baby Jimmy, I think she should answer to you." Kim said. She had never been more angry with Maddie.

"And that'll only be the start of your punishment young lady. It'll be a VERY long time before you touch ANY kind of baby real kind or the doll variety." With that Gibbs turned Maddie sideways and smacked her bottom hard half a dozen times before giving her a gentle push towards Jimmy.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Jimmy carried Maddie back to the house, as much to give himself time to calm down as anything else. Abby and the kids were waiting out front of the house.

"He's fine." Jimmy said. "No thanks to Little Miss Disobedient here." Maddie covered her face. She didn't want to look at Jess right now. Or the boys...or Aunt Abby. Everybody was always pickin on her. If they just letted her have one hold of the baby she wouldna had to take him away. She didn't hurt him. He'd just been cryin for nothin.

Jimmy sat on Jess bed and sat Maddie on his knee. Angry as he was he loved this child as much as he loved his own nieces and nephews. More really. He was closer to these kids.

"Maddie, what you did..." Jimmy struggled to find the right words. "Jack is the world to Amber and I."

"I just wanted a turn." Maddie said quietly. Jimmy was really serious and mean and she didn't like it.

"Maddie life is not and will not ever be totally about what you want. You were told to go and play and we'd call you when the baby was awake."

"It wasn't fair."

"I really don't care whether you think it's fair or not. Jack is our baby mine and Amber's and WE decide who touches him and when." Maddie said nothing. Her eyes filled with tears.

"You have to think more about your actions. I love you Maddie and Amber loves you, but if you had hurt our baby..."

"I wouldna hurt him..."

"Not on purpose, but you're a little kid."

"Not." Maddie said with arms folded.

"Undo those arms and lose the attitude right now." Jimmy said in a voice that Maddie hadn't heard from him before. She did. What was it about Daddies that always got that voice. "You will NEVER touch my son again unless an adult is right next to you. Do you hear me?"

"I hear."

"Good." Jimmy said before turning her over his knee. He lifted her denim skirt and brought his hand down hard on her panty clad bottom. Maddie squealed.

"No Uncle Jimmy it hurts!" she wailed. Jimmy ignored her pleas and started spanking in earnest, he covered every inch of her wriggling and squirming backside several times over.

"Ow Ouch ow!" Jimmy kept spanking.

"Are you going to listen to the adults Maddie?" he asked.

"Yes...stopp...you're killing me!" she wailed dramatically. Jimmy spanked her sit spots several times each before standing her in front of him. He pushed his glasses back onto his nose purposely before finding his best Daddy voice.

"Now it's over and I forgive you." he said before pulling her into a hug. She sobbed into his shirt sadly.

"Will Amber forgive me too?" she asked. Jimmy would have loved to have said yes but he couldn't.

"I think you owe her an apology." Maddie nodded.

"Don't wanna go down there. Everyone is mad at me."

"Hmmm. Well the only way to fix that is to say sorry...Come on." Jimmy said holding out a hand. Maddie took it reluctantly and followed him down the stairs.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The others were in the back yard by the time they came down all looked up at the new arrivals. Jimmy nodded to Maddie and gave her a gentle shove.

"I'm sorry Amber." she said quietly. Amber looked up at her while clutching the stroller which was now firmly beside her. Jack slept on peacefully, his ordeal now forgotten.

"I hope so." Amber said without smiling.

"I am." Maddie said. "I shouldda waited."

"Yes you should." Maddie went to walk away sadly but Amber grabbed her hand. "You better give me a hug then." Maddie gave her a watery smile before falling into her arms. "But Maddie? You ever touch Jack without permission again and I will whip your naked bottom with a switch. You hear?" Maddie nodded furiously.

"I hear."

"Good."

Maddie then wandered over to Jess. "You told on me." she said.

"Yep cos you shouldna taked Jack." she said bravely.

"I know." Maddie said. "Wanna play upstairs?"

"Not so fast." Kim said as she grabbed her daughter by the arm and lead her to the corner of the patio. "No playing for you Miss. Not for today. You can stay in the corner until the burgers are ready. Maddie opened her mouth to protest but then closed it again when she saw her Daddy's look.

"Maybe later." Jess said with an embarrassed grin.

Tim grabbed up Jess from behind and hoisted her onto his shoulders. "Have I told you how proud I am of you Jess?" he asked.

"Nope...not today."

"Well I am...you're my Princess."

"Princess McGee." Jess said with a grin.

Another typical family Sunday ended with the newest addition safe and sound. The boys played basketball and Sarah and Zac payed Frisbee with the dogs. Ducky set the burgers on the table while Gibbs got his daughter out of the corner. Jess sat at the table with her hand on the chair next to her. She was saving it for her best friend.

The End


End file.
